Radical Change
by Trengilly
Summary: Magical Maturity occurs to everyone on their seventeenth birthday. It is nice how magic is logical 'n rule abiding to not deviate from this rule. Because at the mention of magic the first thought is to apply pure logic with no chance to worry about wooliness and illogical thoughts. Well if the Ministry says it occurs to all at seventeen ofc it must. [fem(H)/Hr/L] [NL/HA] eventually
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world.

Radical Change

Harry closed his eyes and pushed his head back into the compartment's head rest. Glad at last to be alone. His two best friends had the prefects' meeting and he could allow himself to unwind. Ginny was in a major tiz, due to his break up with her at Dumbledore's funeral. All the head ache and bother from the school could no longer affect him during this moment to himself. Of course he was stuck blaming himself. Surely there had to be something he could have done while frozen on top of the astronomy tower.

Dumbledore was dead, the single biggest deterrent to Voldemort gone, and what was to happen now? Was not Hogwarts safe because the old headmaster had been there? How quickly would the country fall to the dark lord and his death eaters without the only wizard he feared being there to stop him? On top of that he found himself obligated to return to 'Durzkaban'; when he had so many arguments set up to use on the now dead man, as to why he shouldn't have to return to that hell-hole.

Some dark parts of his psyche actually wondered if Dumbledore had deliberately died to avoid the annual arguments they had, each end of Summer-term. Considering he believed he had nearly won the one after his OWL's, he had been confident in winning this one until the other participant of their annual arguments went and kicked-the-bucket, laid-down-six-feet-under, chose to sprout daisies. Then of course, within the year he would likely be joining him, or he would have another friend die because of him.

The compartment door opened and Hermione entered closing it afterward. She then proceeded to fire numerous curses and charms upon the door and compartment walls. Crookshanks looked up from his nap in the seat beside the window, and seeing something in his mistress's eyes chose to close his own again and return to his sleep on the sun warmed compartment seat, as it didn't look like she would be sitting still.

"Where's Ron?"

"He is going to cover our rounds with Ginny. We unfortunately drew the first shift. They are going to give us some space, as I told them I needed some time alone to talk with you. I had to call in some favors from Ginny as she is still ticked with you." Hermione began, then used her hands to stop Harry responding to either explain or excuse why he had done what he had. "Harry, I am not going to get into whether it was the best time. I have important things to discuss with you that we need to get done over the train trip. So please just listen for a moment. The decision to have you return to the Dursley's is a bad one. I swear magicals' are absolutely hopeless with logic and then try to use it in the one area they should not.

"We know that magic is based in belief more than logic and yet they discuss coming of age on your seventeenth birthday when they know it doesn't happen then…"

"What!"

"Please, Harry, just listen a moment to what they do when you 'come of age'. Every few weeks there is a scheduled meeting for all children over seventeen that have not yet 'magically come of age'. We all are taken outside of Hogwarts wards and told to cast the lumos charm. Then they wait to see who still has an active trace. If your trace is still active after your seventeenth birthday, a waiver is filled out and placed on file with the ministry. But this means that the trace is still active, and it can take up to eighteen months for magic to decide upon maturity. Conversely, I don't know if it was due to me using a time-turner but my first attempt showed no trace, meaning who knows how many months prior to becoming seventeen that I had already achieved magic maturity.

"Of course according to magicals' the maturity occurs exactly on your seventeenth birthday. Even though they go through the whole test and waiver filing for those with an _incorrect_ active trace, they ignore that obviously maturity does not occur in different people exactly the same way. No according to the lot of them, maturity occurred exactly on everybody's seventeenth birthday, and any weird glitches that supposedly have nothing to do with maturity, are handled via filed waivers. As they don't explain until the end of the first year that you can't cast magic 'till seventeen most eleven-year-old's, like I did, use their brand new wands right away and get a warning that they are under threat of expulsion for a second offense of using magic before seventeen.

"This stops them from trying again. I think that some people achieve magical maturity up to eighteen months or more earlier. However, as they don't allow the test to see if the trace is no longer active, until after your seventeenth birthday, it is not recorded. From what I have witnessed it is over two thirds that have achieved magical maturity by the first test after their seventeenth birthday.

"So the whole idea of going to the Dursley's until your seventeenth birthday is absolutely stupid. The wards could already have fallen. Or fall any time from now, to over a year from now. The only way to know for sure would be see if a wizard with intent to harm you, can enter number four Privet drive, and I think we can both say that if death eaters' have already entered the premises, it is too late to find out that the wards have fallen.

"In order to save yourself from having an irate Uncle demanding he has wasted time coming to King's Cross to pick you up, have Hedwig take a note explaining this to them and saying they need not come, but must also put forward their departure time too, as there is no way to know when the wards will fall. Further, if they are even still active. Hedwig can then meet back with us at the station."

Having something to do and acknowledging that Hermione's arguments completely explained the need for him to not return, had Harry quickly getting writing supplies from his trunk. The minor fact that agreeing with his best female friend also saw him shot of 'Durskaban' also played into him not arguing with her. The combination of action along with the knowledge that he was free from ever seeing the Dursleys again tore through the melancholy angst that was torturing him earlier, like a knife through butter.

For a first time, in a long time, Harry was smiling. So what if there was a daft-dark-death-defying-tosser out to get him, 'Moldyshorts' could take a number. He, Harry was going to start to live. Finishing up his quickly scribbled note with blotches that he couldn't be bothered to blot, he cast a drying charm folded up the letter and had it attached to Hedwig's leg, in no time flat. "Here you go beautiful. Drop this on them, so you don't have to get to close. Though I need you to fly there quickly, so they haven't left; you can take your time to return to the station as we won't get there 'till the early evening."

After Hedwig playfully nipped him and barked understanding, Harry opened the compartment window and watched his snowy owl take off on the straight path to Little Winning at her top speed of nearly a hundred miles per hour. A speed in the magical snowy owl significantly faster than a normal snowy owls that cruised around thirty mile per hour, and could only exceed fifty miles per hour for extreme flying. Hedwig's direct flight was also going to be undertaken at a speed that left the slower steam train behind quite quickly. She would arrive at Privet Drive in plenty of time to stop the Dursleys leaving home. After closing the window he turned to see a nervous Hermione twisting her hands and shifting. "What's wrong?"

Harry watched in growing alarm as Hermione bit her lip, a habit that Harry liked normally, but the worry cascading from her was now causing Harry to fret. "What haven't you told me?"

"Please sit Harry. It is not something I haven't told you, but rather something you didn't pay attention to previously. Now Hedwig taking the letter solves the case if your maturity is earlier than your birthday we need to now solve it if it was going to be the worst case the opposite way; namely the situation where the trace is still active eighteen months after your seventeenth birthday."

"I don't see how that is a problem."

"Harry, Dumbledore is dead, who knows how infiltrated the Ministry is? If the Ministry belongs to Voldemort then even if there is a nice waiver filing system for witches and wizards that are seventeen but still have an active trace, it is a moot point. If you still have an active trace then you can't hide from the Ministry except behind a fidelius charm or a few other strong wards. With Dumbledore dying we are no longer sure Grimmauld place is secure. Aside from Hogwarts, we also don't have access to a location with any of the other strong wards, and we don't have access to Hogwarts during the summer as its wards are worked on.

"I have a plan though, and it was something I learned from second year. You remember my polyjuice disaster?"

"Hermione, I quite recall you hiding in a stall in Myrtle's bathroom due to mistaking a cat hair for Parkinson's."

"It was a half-kneazle's hair, Pansy's half-kneazle to be exact. What you don't know was that I had to wait a year until I could take a potion to change myself back. Madam Pomfrey stated that though she could change me back, a change of species, or partial species change to a human-half-kneazle-hybrid was such a shock to the body that it was safest to wait at least a year until changing back. I used a glamour, that due to the kneazle's hair belonging to a mature cat, I could cast at home as the trace was not active for that year. When I was changed back the trace re-activated. For three holidays I was able to cast magic and show my parents what I had been learning at Hogwarts. I think if they hadn't seen what I could do with magic they never would have signed off on me using a time-turner to go to all the lessons in third year.

"So we have Crookshanks, a mature male half-kneazle, napping over there. I have brewed polyjuice potion once more and have it here. So you will just pick-up Crookshanks. You then pluck a hair and place it into the potion. Drink and become a human-half-kneazle-hybrid that has no active trace. Stay that way for twenty or so months, or until we have resolved everything to ensure you are definitely magically mature. Then we heal you to human. While being the hybrid you wear a glamour. I can teach it to you, and if the Ministry falls you can't be found as there is no active trace on you."

It seemed a typical Hermione designed, sensible, completely thought through plan that could not have any chance of failure. Of course both had forgotten to factor in Harry's natural curse that ensures normal is avoided. As this plan would not usually be considered a normal solution to begin with, his curse had plenty of room to really go to town. The fact Crookshanks acted the way he did should have been the first clue that this was not going to end well.

Crookshanks awoke from a nap fearing something bad was about to happen and seeing his mistress's clueless mate that was often busy chasing the wrong lass, stalking toward him like a predator, he knew his sixth sense was not wrong. Yowling he leapt for protection from whatever nefarious designs the other male had and clawed his way up Hermione and hid within her bushy mane, around the back of her neck. Hissing and snarling his claws getting through both blazer and blouse, then drawing blood.

"Harry, hurry up grab a hair, take the potion from me and drink it! Then help me get Crookshanks off! I am about to drop the potion!"

Harry grabbed at Crookshank's hair accompanied to a yowl and cry for the clawed retaliation, and grabbed the vial of polyjuice potion, before Hermione dropped it. Worried about his best female friend he was paying little attention to the hair added to the potion. Ensuring he had a hair sticking out of the vial he pushed it into the potion, swirled and swallowed. Dropping the empty vial on his earlier seat, he started to help tease the claws out of Hermione's clothes, but suddenly he dropped to the floor in excruciating pain.

When the pain finally receded and he was able to note that Crookshanks was backed up in the corner of the compartment his hackles raised hissing, and his friend no longer in pain but nervously looking at him he wondered what had happened to her. She obviously now no longer had the cat digging claws into her shoulders.

Hermione noticing him finally aware, faced her fear of what her friend would do and said, "Harry we have a big problem."


	2. Chapter 2

A scarlet woman

 _Previously_

 _Hermione noticing him finally aware, faced her fear of what her friend would do and said, "Harry we have a big problem."_

Harry slowly getting back to his feet noticed his furry tail. Nearly stumbling as he swished it, he realized he was going to have to work on his stability in this new form. Raising one of his clawed and hairy hands he noted that he now had fur on his face and pointed furry ears that he could move. He was thankful that his hands did have thumbs, an opposable digit, thus they were hands not paws though he could retract the claws on each of the five digits in the same way a cat would. "There is nothing to worry about Hermione. My fir is a mix from ginger through marmalade because Crookshanks is that colour, verses Parkinson's that was grey. Other than that I look pretty similar to how you looked second year. Your idea worked perfectly."

"Harry the whole similarity to how I looked in second year is the problem…

"Why? You wanted me to do the same thing you had done and become a human-half-kneazle-hybrid to get around the trace…

"Harry, please take a seat, it is not the human-half-kneazle-hybrid that is the problem. It is the human girl part of the human-half-kneazle-hybrid, and aside colour you are now looking so similar to how I looked in second year, and that is the problem. You must have grabbed in addition to a hair from Crookshanks, a second hair from me. You are no longer a boy, Harry." Hermione explained then waited for the explosion that was sure to follow.

"Where the heck do you come off making that kind of comment? I am fully clothed! Did you peek earl…

"No, I most certainly did not! But even in clothes it is obvious that boys and girls look different. Especially as you now have; Well, those!" Hermione for once un-eloquently indicated to a little below his neck.

Harry looked down and noticed the problem, or rather the two problems. As he hadn't yet changed into the Dursley's oversized castoffs, his school uniform that had fit quite well was straining, puckered at the upper buttons of his shirt to the point if he breathed in deeply he was concerned he would send a few buttons flying. He was only glad that due to the heat he had taken off his blazer and wizards cloak earlier. They had both been getting a little small and with his new upper body would surely have been torn. His newly padded hands fell upon the pair and he couldn't ignore what his eyes said was there. For his hands concurred. He really did have, to quote Hermione, 'those'. The rest of his clothing was way too loose, and if he had changed out of Hogwarts uniform prior to this, he would have been drowned in them. Harry though had to know the worst and holding his loose trousers out, after standing back up peeked, paled and plunked back down onto the seat.

"So, girl or boy?" Hermione asked.

"Isn't that question asked of pregnant women, Hermione?"

"Fine, Harry, then let me ask you, can you now get pregnant?"

"Merlin, I think that question is worse than the previous." Harry replied.

"Well hurry up and answer one of them, Harry. You're whole dithering and avoiding makes me think I should have looked while you were rolling around on the floor. I patiently waited until after you looked after all, before even asking."

"Hermione, I am currently hoping that if I don't answer you, it isn't true, OK."

Hermione looked at Harry closely, "So, you are now a girl."

"Grrh! Damn it Hermione, I didn't want to acknowledge it…

Loud knocking on the compartment door interrupted Harry, and Hermione got up and started to head toward it.

"Wait! You can't let them in! You haven't taught me the glamour charm yet!" Harry yelled.

"Harry, that will take a few hours, we can't leave them out of the compartment it will draw other prefects attention. Also the charm hides the half-kneazle properties. If I had to guess, then after you learn it, you will look like my identical twin sister. Unless you're lucky and my human hair effect has the usual hourly time limit of affecting you, leaving you a male-human-half-kneazle-hybrid or you become Harry because the human hair negates the animal hair in the potion and you can re-drink the potion with only one correct hair" Hermione rambled with run on sentence after another as she started questioning what might happen due to the two different hairs.

"Well cast it on me at least before you let them in." Harry declared. "Better yet, let's leave them out for one hour so hopefully the worst is solved."

"Are you implying that being a girl is the worst thing that could happen?" Harry wisely kept quiet, "Anyway I can't, Harry. If I could, then Madam Pomfrey would have been able to cast it on me second year and you wouldn't have seen me in the clinic as you did. The specific glamour charm to cover this can only be cast upon yourself. I was stuck in the clinic until I learned how to cast it." Hermione then went and opened the door, which was now on its third and most violent knocking, allowing in Ron who had been joined with Neville and Luna. "Where's Ginny?" she asked as she closed the door and reapplied the earlier spells.

The three arrivals had not heard her though. They were all staring slack jawed at Harry. Luna was first to recover. "Um, Harry, yes?" after getting a nod "I think you need to borrow some of Hermione's clothes, unless you have some of your own already that fit. If so, you should change into those instead. Mine would be as bad as what you are currently wearing. Oh! You could take off your clothing I actually think that would be better. Can you describe the creature that was last nesting in your hair? Do you know its name, because I haven't a clue what creature can do that? We have to talk to Daddy, please tell me you have a photograph or at the least its name?"

"Hermione, glamour charm, now!"

As Hermione taught the charm to Harry, and Luna threw more and more wild, potentially mythical animals out as the cause, possibly if they worked in combination. Ron and Neville, at least finally sitting down just stared at Harry with glazed eyes as if he had grown an extra head. Harry studiously ignored them, concentrating on the charm Hermione was teaching him.

Finally getting the charm down in the third hour, he looked at himself and saw Hermione dressed in Harry's school uniform. He wondered if the audience of three unwanted people helped him learn the spell faster or if their being there had distracted him into taking longer.

"Well it would seem the kneazle hair affects the human hair effects hourly time limit." Hermione stated, "The problem is by how much, and does the corollary run too. Good thing I'd already decided that you would come home with me. As you will be with us in case we need another of Crookshanks' hairs."

Luna suddenly burst out laughing. "Polyjuice with two different species hairs, you two often experiment like this? Oh, then it is easy you both have a major wrackspurts and nargle infestation. Crookshanks is male?" at the double nod, Luna, continued, "Ah, Ah, Harry do you have both bits? Can I look?"

"No and No!" Harry murderously exclaimed.

"So, Harry you are a girl the whole way now?"

"I am currently like Hermione's identical twin." Harry left off while wearing the glamour and though it was not visible he knew he was still sitting on a tail. His ears moved to point to where sound came from but no one could see that, even if he felt it.

"Then we should change clothes. Hermione, can he borrow some of yours? Or Harry did you already buy some in preparation for your sex change?"

"Luna, we didn't intend this. I was going to be a male-human-half-kneazle-hybrid to get around the trace. Accidently one of Hermione's hairs got in the polyjuice potion." Harry bit out.

"Okay so you'll need to borrow some clothes from Hermione," Luna continued, totally able to keep on the current topic, "You will look better dressed as Hermione. She makes a much better choice than you do in wardrobe, even beyond the actual fitting thing that you are the most hopeless at even amongst males."

"Luna, there are people in the compartment. I am not going to get changed."

"Oh, pooh! Neville, Ron you need to get out us girls need to change."

"I can't get changed with you girls!"

"Huh! I thought you said you were a girl?"

"I have been trying very hard, to not say I am a girl, Luna"

"Well as you stated you are not both, and you have those, I would think that makes you a girl. Are you he, she or it?" Luna asked, completely not noticing how uncomfortable Harry was getting.

Hermione angrily stopped this by cutting in, "That's it! Ron, Neville give us some time and don't talk about this to anyone. We will likely need at least two hours so give us three. Luna just drop it, please, and Harry you are going to have to borrow some of my clothes. Unless you know how to put a bra on you are going to get changed with us, so lump it. Get over it. You are now a girl and stop being so much of a prat. Half the world lives perfectly fine as a female. So don't you dare insult us any longer. I have had it with you acting as if this is a bad thing. In reality it is just immaturity that stops you from accepting the situation."

After the boys left and Hermione had recast the plethora of spells once more, Hermione used her wand to bring her trunk down from the overhead rack. As she began looking through the extremely tidy, and well organized, packed trunk Harry looked at the situation. If he continued he could not only make both girls awkward, well he didn't think anyone could make Luna feel awkward, but he appeared in addition to be well on the way to ticking off Hermione. He already had himself in Ginny's doghouse, and he obviously needed female help. Though he thought he was nowhere close to annoying Luna, he knew that if he had to struggle through living as a female he could only do it with his best female friend on hand. He was rather worried what abuse could occur to him if he was left counting on Luna. Further, as Luna had no clothes that would fit Harry, they would have to go female clothes shopping right away and that had to be a point of proving you had given in to the whole, well to this! Borrowing Hermione's clothes meant they weren't his. He so didn't need to own female clothes.

Harry was staggered how quickly three hours had passed. He had to learn how to put on and take off a bra. For some reason Hermione then declared he needed to learn how to do it single handed. Luna guffawed at that, especially when Harry stated he didn't plan on losing an arm so couldn't see the need. Luna said something and Hermione blushed bright red. Harry was completely befuddled when Hermione had hotly stated, "Well I should get something out of this for later on!" They then played dress-up with their new toy. He had adamantly refused to use make-up even if in order to do that he had to allow them to see him in two dresses and three skirts. The first dress due to his tail didn't work the second had a scandalous low back that Harry was sure Hermione would never wear. It did work with his tail but he didn't like the looks received from both Hermione and Luna so quickly vetoed it. Thankfully they allowed him to wear jeans. They were low riders that allowed his tail exit. The two girls didn't tell him but the navel displaying crop top combo with low hip hugging jeans that were needed so there wouldn't be a bump caused by the invisible tail, meant he was showing a bit of the upper cheeks behind. Hermione was wondering if it was narcissistic to enjoy ogling Harry so much while he was her identical twin.

They had just settled on a name, Heather. Harry had wanted to stay with the flower naming used with girls in his Mum's family and keep the 'H' for the monograms, like the outside of his trunk. He argued that he wouldn't be Perdita, even if he was lost, as it would imply he was Hermione's daughter not twin sister, and that would be weird. Even if in a way you could argue that through polyjuice potion he was sort of born from Hermione. Hermione said that as they were going to ask her parents to accept a second daughter they should use the middle name starting with 'J' as a bargaining chip, offering them to chose it. Further discussion was then interrupted by knocking on the compartment door.

Ginny entered first almost running in, until the shock of seeing the twin Hermione's aborted her forward momentum and her head swung from one to the other and back again. "Sweet Merlin, I couldn't believe Ron was telling the truth. Err one of you is Harry right?"

"Ron I said, don't tell anyone!" Hermione exclaimed.

"She demanded a reason why we had to give you guys three hours. I made sure we were alone and got her to agree to not tell anyone else prior to telling her." Ron stated leaving Hermione boggled that Ron had thought it through that well.

Meanwhile Ginny determining the yet to speak Hermione standing in the middle of the compartment must be Harry and walked around him. "Merlin, Hermione you could dress like this!"

"Harry has to dress like that as he has a tail, even if the glamour hides it." Hermione replied.

"If Mum saw you dressed like this…

"You would be declared a scarlet woman." Ron interrupted his sister.

Authors Note: This is not quite a challenge from Whitetigerwolf's "Stay away from polyjuice potion", though that challenge did create the spark that caused this story. The spark being namely, a mess up from polyjuice potion that causes Harry to have to learn how the other half lives and I can't make the poor boy pregnant to keep him locked in the opposite gender, until he at least understands what it truly means to be a girl. Harry, on his femininity is currently in the middle of a well known river in Egypt. At this point in other words I haven't yet decided if he recovers his maleness (Now there is something one doesn't normally write) in the future or force him to truly live his life a girl and go through everything. - Trengilly rubs her hands and cackles madly, then wonders why people are stepping back away from her. – I'm not mad, honest. So nods in respect of the author that set a challenge that was the seed, but I'm keeping mum on if this story will meet the challenge criterion at this point of time.


	3. Chapter 3

Facing the Music

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

 _Previously_

 _"If Mum saw you dressed like this…_

 _"You would be declared a scarlet woman." Ron interrupted his sister._

Neville had been listening to all the comments, drinking in everything that was happening from his first visit to the train compartment and thinking. "Harry;" he interjected into the last pregnant pause, "Why did you need to bypass the trace? It is only a few weeks 'till your birthday. Dangerously messing about with polyjuice potion for a few days of beating the 'Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic' that has resulted in you becoming Hermione's twin and possibly subject to the 'Ministries' Acceptable Creature Regulation Laws', if the whole hybrid part is ever uncovered, seems high risk for minimal return."

"Harry, let me respond," Hermione fielded Neville's question. "Ignoring RRUM and MACkeReL for the moment, Ron on your last test before the end of term did you still have an active trace?"

Ron nervously scratched the back of his neck, "Well, if you must have me tell this to everyone, then yes; But I have a waiver filed so I can cast magic over the summer and I am sure it will have fixed itself by the trace test at the beginning of next term. Corner's trace is also still active and his seventeenth was before mine."

"Do you see the problem, Neville, we can't risk Harry having an active trace, and the next trace test both of you would take with Ron is after seventh year starts. It is too dangerous to allow the Ministry to have an active trace on Harry, and the belief that the trace becomes inactive on your seventeenth birthday is erroneous. By doing the ' _dangerous_ ' polyjuice potion we know that there is no trace on Harry as Crookshanks is older than Pansy's Princess was when I became a hybrid during second year, and until I was cured by Madam Pompfrey in third year I was casting magic at home with no trace."

"Now hold on a minute." Ron demanded, "I am seventeen and I have a waiver, so it is just like not having a trace. I didn't get any citations from the Improper Use of Magic over Easter break."

"Fine, Ronald; so for the rest of us that are actually on topic with the need to ensure there is no actual trace what so ever on Harry, regardless of flipping Ministerial waivers, are we covered?" Hermione asked.

"I have only one thing to say before leaving to my friend's for the rest of this journey, and for two reasons, Heather, I am going to say it to you in front of everyone in here. Namely, If I had it out in the corridor people might think there was something going on between Hermione and me, and secondly where I would have unless completely angry with you, felt you deserved your privacy protected if you were Harry, I have no care for Heather's, except I will protect the secret that you were actually Harry and the whole fur-ball thing.

"So that being said I have no interest in you as a witch, so when you finally fix yourself Heather, then know Harry that you owe me apologies, groveling and you can't gainsay anything I do until you are yourself again. As far I am concerned Harry is dead, and even if we had been married, which we hadn't been yet, it is 'till death do us part. Further, breaking up with me at Dumbledore's funeral in front of everyone, making it a public spectacle, you have no right but to beg for me to return to you." Ginny magnanimously stated before leaving.

Heather starred at the door, "I didn't make it a public spectacle." She said to the door quietly.

"Ha… Heath…er, even though it was Ginny that threw the whole tantrum in front of the public. You know our Weasley temper and breaking up in a public area, even if you whispered, you caused the spectacle." Ron told his best mat…, um well Ron told Heather.

"Ginevra is a Weasley, Heather, and well," Luna looked hard at Ronald, "as can be seen by how stubborn people can't see the wood for the trees on Magical Maturity, they look at the world in a different way than others."

Neville, Hermione and Heather found Luna's comment oddly too good at both describing the two youngest Weasley's but they all couldn't help but imagine pots and kettles arguing on the other's colour too.

Ron deciding the attack on his sister was typical Looney drivel decided it was high time to get out of the whole girl talk. "Neville, do you want to play a game of wizard's chess?"

"No, I've got the latest Herbology Digest, which I had planned to read on the train. I want to at least start looking it over before we get to Kings Cross."

"Ha… or never mind. I am going to see if Dean or Seamus is interested in a game." Ron stated before leaving the cabin.

Heather watched Neville, get his magazine out and start to lose himself in his interest. Anything was better than looking at the closed door his best mate had left through and his ex previously. He was going to yell at Ron saying how did he think he could play a game with all 'this', he had to get a grasp on? However, being jilted from even the chance to shut Ron down, hurt.

Luna placed an arm around Heather drawing her close, "Welcome to the woman's world where unless you have something they need now, men will ignore you for their latest fancy." Luna quietly informed Heather and Hermione nodded from her other side.

Harry's quick glance to Neville on the bench opposite told him that he hadn't heard. Hermione smirked, "At some point later Neville will rejoin the conversation, if he seems confused in how the conversation has changed, just smile mysteriously and tell him that women understand things and converse in ways he will never know. Welcome to the club, and don't worry about how Ron blew you off. Believe me there will come a time you wish he wasn't giving you so much attention."

"Tell me about it, he calls me Looney while undressing me, and the things he is thinking. I always need to take a good shower to get myself clean. As for Ginevra, if you become Harry again, and if you want that relationship, then you know what you need to do. Ginevra is honest and upfront, in that relationship she will be in charge, and anything you do to cause her to lose it, is from her point of view your fault completely. One should start a relationship with eyes wide open, not wearing rose tinted or lust laden lenses.

"The closer the way you and your future partner look at the world, the easier it is to compromise on an argument." Luna added. "I could never be in a relationship with Ginevra, until today I didn't think I could be in one with Hermione. I definitely could never be in one with Ronald. Neville?" A small smile arose on Luna's face. "Oh, but if you became Harry again, I could have my pudding and eat it." The look she gave the twins was completely lecherous and then became evil. "If not, we three could 'share' Neville, heck throw in Hanna and Susan and we could build Neville a harem."

"Are you sure you aren't building 'this' for yourself, Luna?" Hermione asked, adding air quotes to 'this'.

"We would be building it for Neville, honestly. I mean, I would definitely get something out of it too, but we really would be, building it for Neville." Luna declared.

"What are you all building me, Luna?" Neville asked putting down the periodical.

"Don't worry, Neville, if I can talk around the others so we do build it, you will like it." Luna smiled.

"Harry, what is she suddenly talking about?"

"It's Heather, Neville," then looking at her two girlfriends and smirking. "Don't worry Neville, women understand things and converse in ways you will never understand. We are currently not on-board with Luna, and she can't do this kind of building alone. Though, she might be right that you wouldn't mind, if she succeeded."

Beating a hasty retreat, Neville picked up the magazine and dived back in.

Hermione 'high-fived' Heather, while Luna warmed her hands from imaginary heat.

"Hot! Heather, are you sure you aren't the real you? Only Hermione survived your flames from that dual slinging attack. How soon before you can dominate all present. I like this you." Luna said.

The rest of the journey went by with no more interruptions. It was nice to have a Malfoy free Hogwarts Express trip for once. As they slowed down into Kings Cross, the younger Weasleys returned for their trunks and wished Luna and Neville a good summer. They then looked at the twins then glanced to each other, deciding Ron would talk.

"So are you going to sneak out to the muggle side, or say goodbye in front of Mum?" Ron asked.

Heather interrupted Hermione, "Hermione, you have no reason to also be rude to Mrs. Weasley. You should go with them, say Harry had been told by his relatives that they had somewhere they had to leave to right away. So he apologizes from not having time to greet them, but doesn't want to anger his relatives. Hey I could try to see how quickly your parents' work out I am not you."

"Harry will owe all the Weasleys, for your lying, Heather." Ginny stated, then pulling her trunk left, not waiting for acknowledgement or argument from Heather.

"It is rude ma… Heather." Ron agreed then left after his sister.

"Go with them Hermione, it is not a problem, I have my cloak so I can get out to the other side unnoticed." Then after Hermione's apologetical exit, he asked Neville and Luna if they minded getting out of the train at the same time, so no one bumped into an invisible person.

The exit was working perfectly, an invisible, Heather, with Luna and Neville bracketing her, looking like a civilized gap between unaccompanied girl and following boy. They were off the train and just onto platform nine and three quarters when Mrs. Weasley tore into them. "Did Harry leave? Is he still on the train! The plans have changed! The wards fell and his relatives have obviously gone to the important event without coming here to pick him up! Oh that boy! If he gets caught…" Mrs. Weasley's anger quickly shifted into the underlying worry.

Quickly partially pulling back the hood of the invisibility cloak Harry called to get Mrs. Weasley's attention. "I am here, but staying beneath the cloak for safety."

"Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley asked, after the quick glance and hearing ' _Hermione's?_ ' voice.

"No, Hermione is over there." Luna pointed to Hermione and after Mrs. Weasley had looked and turned back. "Heather is under the cloak, she was Harry, but now she is Hermione twin's sister."

Needless to say the row following everyone being dragged into one of the enclosed waiting rooms was epic. As only Weasley quarrels can be. Neville guiltily excused himself, while Luna appeared to ensure that she had fanned the flames as much as possible then waltzed into Hermione's personal space and kissed the surprised girl before she knew what was happening. Luna then twirled through the dead quite and kissed Heather. Said bye to the twins and sashayed out of the waiting room. She was glad her decision to kiss Hermione first worked, she had been fairly sure if she had kissed Heather first she wouldn't have succeeded in kissing Hermione too. Luna had just escaped when the argument picked up a few decibels, and comments of 'Scarlet Witches', 'unnatural evil practices' and 'incestuous relationships' were prevalent.

Mrs. Weasley was still muttering that it would be best to split the twins up to ensure nothing wrong could occur, and Harry could keep Hermione's cat at the Burrow for the summer, so it was there if needed. She was sure their polyjuice experimenting was what messed up Dumbledore's perfect plans that would have had Harry achieve Magical Maturity exactly on his birthday as Dumbledore had said it would be, and he was the greatest wizard, and look how things all fall apart as soon as he was dead. Dumbledore had stated he must be in complete control of Harry's life to ensure he didn't mature too slow or too fast. In fact it took having Madam Pompfrey looking the poor boy over before Mrs. Weasley accepted that Harry couldn't be returned for at least a year. She hoped that Harry wouldn't be defiled by Luna and the Granger twins. They were shameless witches, the three of them.

Moody of course seemed to love the scandal, and just wished they had used a hair from Luna or Ginevra as a pureblood witch would be an even safer hiding place for Harry, than a muggleborn one was. The fact that Harry was able to hide as a witch during the war was a good thing as far as he was concerned.

Heather and Hermione somehow succeeded in 'outstubborning' the Weasleys and were finally able to get through the portal and into Kings Cross proper. They had to accept allowing Mrs. Weasley's eldest to put wards up around the Granger's house and know Moody would be checking out the house this evening and setting up a guard rotation.

So now they only had to face the music of informing Hermione's parents that Hermione now had a twin sister they hadn't previously known about.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Mate?

 _Previously_

 _So now they only had to face the music of informing Hermione's parents that Hermione now had a twin sister they hadn't previously known about._

Hedwig showing up next threw a spanner in the works; she let both of the twins know she wasn't really happy about now being told to fly to the Grangers and got promises of bacon every day for two weeks before accepting. A final few nips that hadn't been as friendly as the prior nips had been, and taking flight once more Hedwig slowly left. Both twins were sure that she was milking it to make them feel guilty. They were however, very guilty and promised to make it up to her.

Heather having put the cloak back on and with her shrunken trunk in her pocket followed Hermione through the portal with Mad Eye behind her. Neville, Luna and the Weasleys had left thankfully already. She saw the Grangers virtually pounce on their daughter. They had obviously been worried with it taking so long for her to get through the portal. Their smiles were strained as they pulled Hermione into a shared hug.

"Everything is alright, yes?" Hermione's mum asked her daughter.

"We were getting worried the train got in forty minutes ago and we have only about five minutes left on the parking meter." Hermione's Dad interjected.

"Everything is fine, Mum, Dad. We can talk as we walk to the car. Is it okay if I have a friend over?"

Both Doctors looked incredulously at the old peg legged auror that was following their daughter.

"Oh, not professor Moody, though he wants to check the house is safe and help organize some wards being put up to protect us. My friend is under an invisibility cloak for her safety. She is further disguised as my identical twin sister so no one knows they are staying at our house."

The Grangers' emotions ran the gambit from relief to concern to confusion to incredulous and were now wondering if their daughter might need professional help. An imaginary friend to use to blame if anyone saw Hermione do something wrong was their prevalent worry with the whole invisible identical twin sister that was apparently going to visit this summer. It was normally not a problem at this age though. After Dan Granger opened the boot of his Skoda Suberb Estate, and helped Hermione get her trunk inside he was stopped from closing it by Hermione.

"Harry you should put your trunk in too, last thing we need is it unshrinking while you're in the car." Hermione called behind her.

Harry carefully took the trunk from his pocket extended the arm from his cloak after quickly checking no one was around then after placing it on the other side of the boot. He removed his wand and cast finite incantatem. To the watching Grangers it was yet another reminder that every time they thought they had a handle on magic their daughter would find a new rabbit-hole to plunge them into. They saw a young girl's arm appear from thin air and reach into their car's boot. The arm retreated from sight then reappeared with a wand. Latin words, a flash of light, and now their boot had two trunks in it and they noticed the car's suspension shift from the suddenly increased load. The girl's arm and wand then re-vanished. So okay, there actually obviously really was an invisible friend, and the girl was apparently named 'Harry'.

"Do you want to ride with us Professor?" Hermione asked.

"No I'll watch you all leave then apparate ahead and start ensuring the house is safe. Stay under the cloak Harry, and I mean stay under it for the whole trip, Constant Vigilance!" Moody yelled startling Hermione's parents and drawing public attention to the car.

Hermione opened her door than stood to the side, "Get in Heather and scoot across I will place Crookshanks in the middle seat and get in after you."

The Grangers silently talked to each other then also got in and pulled into traffic, a few minutes after they were no longer visible even from a magic eye. There was a crack and the last of the group left Kings Cross station.

Dan communicated to Emma that he expected her to start the queries by dipping his head back twice, once to each of the two outer rear seats and then looking hard at his wife. "Hermione, you asked for a girl to stay over, and have named her both Heather and Harry. The professor called her Harry. We know of a male friend Harry Potter, but you have never mentioned any girl friends aside Luna and Ginny, definitely no one known as Heather before, even in passing. Does she really have to stay under a cloak the whole trip and she doesn't have a seat-belt on? Also are you going to feed her under the table when we stop for dinner on the way home like some kind of pet dog." A chocked off cough sounded, after the pet dog comment, from the empty looking side of the rear seat, helping the Grangers to believe the invisible girl was still in their car.

"We need to wait a bit more. I don't know how far Professor Moody's magical eye can see and we don't need him to try to apparate into this moving car to prove a point on constant vigilance." Hermione replied while laughter arose from the _'empty'_ corner of the rear seat.

"There has to be about half dozen buildings between the car and Kings Cross station now. How magical is his eye?" Hermione's dad asked her.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders, "Just give us ten more minutes to be sure Dad. Then Mum we will answer your questions."

"Hermione, you could answer our questions even if your friend is invisible."

"Heather, could you answer mum's questions?"

"No, wait Heather. Hermione we will hear from you first and then in ten minutes when your invisible friend becomes visible we will hear from your friend." Her mum explained to Hermione. "Let's start with how long you have been friends with Heather?"

"Actually I think I need to start with my polyjuice accident in second year." Hermione replied and at her mum's nod proceeded. "Prior to fixing the issue I was able to cast magic at home because the half kneazle was mature and that removed my active trace on my wand. Well you recall how I told you the evil wizard returned to life a year ago when he used my friend Harry's blood. At the end of this term he managed to get his death eaters to kill Dumbledore, the only wizard that he feared and we are worried how much of the ministry already actually answers to him, and Harry's seventeenth birthday is the last day of July and you know how I explained that magical maturity and the active trace and the waivers…

"Hermione, relax you are not in trouble and I now think I know what is going on. Your friend Heather was Harry." After her daughter nodded Mrs. Granger continued. "You used the kneazle hair polyjuice deliberately to remove the active trace from Harry to protect him from evil elements that might be within your ministry, but until seeing the result hadn't realized the half-kneazle was female. Is crookshanks really female?" A yowl from the middle of the rear bench was Crookshanks voicing his displeasure to that.

"No Crookshanks is a male-half kneazle and was the hair we were planning to use in the potion."

A bark from her Dad, "And history repeated and the wrong hair got into Harry's potion too."

"Do you want me to explain what happened?" Hermione asked rather put out. After getting nods from both parents she continued. "Crookshanks got spooked and clawed his way up me and hid behind my neck, digging his claws into my shoulders making me nearly drop the potion. I rushed Harry due to being in pain and he got at least one of my hairs, as well as one of Crookshanks into the potion. Madam Pompfrey believes Harry is stable as Heather-half-kneazle-hybrid and is investigating into whether the method used to cure me will cure Harry. She is concerned though due to this, using her words, being at least another order of magnitude more complex than my accident.

"Normally human hair in polyjuice potion lasts about an hour. Harry took the potion nearly ten hours ago now. So he could suddenly become what we had planned to avoid the trace. Or return to normal Harry with an active trace, which will require him to retake polyjuice potion without my hair to escape the trace. However, that could be bad as you're not supposed to stress the body for at least a year. Or he might remain as is. Heather go ahead and take off the cloak and put the seat belt on."

While sitting in the Granger's car listening to the conversation, Heather was having a breakdown. She felt like two people. One was the boy-who-lived, Harry that had accidently been turned into a girl. The second was Heather, she didn't have the weight of prophecy, the pile of expectations people had placed upon an emotionally abused, malnourished and stunted child. She could hide in plain sight like Moody had happily exclaimed earlier. She was not the wizarding world's savior their chosen one.

She was free of the all the baggage Harry came with. He vacillated between thinking of himself as he was, and as she now had become. He began to notice two distinctly different points of view on how to look at the situation as their conversation discussed her as Harry at points and him as Heather at others. When his thought process had him in the wrong state for how others referred to her he noticed that one of the points of view did a better job handling the miss-alignment than the other.

The old Harry was always upset when referred to as female, but the new Heather seemed able to switch comfortably between the past when she didn't exist as that was Harry to her point of view, and the present where she is a girl, and there is no problem being so. The main concern Heather had was a worry that she was killing Harry. That she was taking over another person's life and starting it off by committing murder.

As a now visible Heather pulled the seat belt on and then folded up a shimmering silky silver piece of material, which had been the magical artifact enabling her to appear invisible, both Grangers stared looking from one daughter to the other 'girl'. They now were the proud owners of completely identical twins and it was odd. Yes their daughter, admittedly with help this time, had managed to even trump today's Kings Cross debacle.

"We can't go into our usual restaurant. They would think we had been hiding our other daughter. Frank and Bernice would never let it go. There is no way we could pass her off as a friend from school." Emma stated to her husband.

Heather got a momentary shock at this. It shouldn't have shocked her as she had already identified that Hermione was her identical twin sister. So the natural progression then, was that the two people sitting in front of her were her parents. She had a mum and dad. Something Harry had always wanted and felt cheated when he discovered his parents were still dead, even if his aunt and uncle had lied about how they died. She was forced out of the reverie realizing dad was referring to her as Harry again.

"Well we could if he suddenly became Harry with the end of one or both aspects of the potions. Though having a customer flip genders in their restaurant would blow the statue of secrecy right out of the water. That's for sure." Dan replied "We could get dinner delivered, and eat at home. I think I have enough adrenaline to not need a break."

"I'll order, you let me know if you need to make a small stop for coffee, or if you want me to drive. They will have to have separate bedrooms for just in case she becomes he. What are we going to do about my parents' visit? What are we eating? Heather are those your only clothes that fit?"

"They're Hermione's, Harry's clothes don't fit me, mum. I am sorry, I mean Mrs. Granger." Heather was mortified she had been thinking of the Grangers as her parents and it had just slipped out.

"I would love you to call me mum, Heather. It would make things more natural when we out in public, which will happen tomorrow as we need to get you some clothes."While talking she noticed that Heather referred to Harry as a different person than herself.

"I don't want to buy girl clothes." Harry declared, the mistake of using mum causing the other way of thinking to take over.

"You are going to need clothes that fit. We can get you a more boyish style...

"Actually mum though you can't see it Heather still has a tail so they can't be more boyish than what she's wearing." Hermione cut in.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Well except both parents were beginning to notice a pattern of two distinctly different personalities within Hermione's friend. Ones that could easily be correlated to an uncomfortable boy named Harry and an accepting, all be it unwillingly, girl named Heather living within the same girl's body. They both decided it would be healthier while she was female, if Heather was encouraged to be more dominant. As Heather was Hermione's twin sister she was their daughter. One they wanted to help. If, or when she became Harry once more they would help Harry recover dominance. However, it would be best currently to allow Heather to take over.

Hermione and Heather's grandparent visit was shelved to address later. Heather was misled into believing that her need for new clothes was shelved too. Food was ordered and hopefully timed to arrive after they were settled at home. Hermione ensured Heather was wearing the cloak over the seat belt well before they got home as Mad Eye would be looking to see they obeyed his order when they got home. It looked like a seat belt had been cut with a sharp blade as four inches of seat belt hung unnaturally from the dispenser and was cut off in a straight line as it obviously entered the invisibility cloaks domain.

Having parked the car in the drive way, they were greeted as they got out of it by both Professor Moody and Bill Weasley. "Perfect timing can the four of you all place a hand on this rock?" William held out an almost two foot cube irregular grey rock with seams of quartz running through it and runes obviously carved on the exterior. "Any where is fine. Actually can Hermione and Ha.. I mean Heather hold it between them it isn't very heavy and you don't need to give me rights to your house."

They all shuffled around. Moody glared into the dark as if he expected death eaters to pour out of it followed by Voldemort. Then again that was probably top of his list for what just might happen next. Bill touched his wand to the keystone and started chanting light beams shot from the held stone to different places along the edge of their property.

Instead of death eaters Hedwig swooped in, dive bombed Moody for daring to shoot a spell at her then landed on Heather's shoulder furthest from Moody.

"What will the neighbor's think of all these flashing lights and a dive bombing owl?" Mrs. Granger asked.

Having finished his chant Bill then answered, "I have a notice me not ward up outside this main ward so they aren't seeing this light show nor did they see Hedwig's entrance."

"We are expecting a delivery driver in ten minutes. Will they miss the house?" Hermione asked

"I will drop the notice me not ward for the delivery."

"Where does this stone get placed?" Mr. Granger inquired.

"Okay I am done with this. Can you two place it in the basement on the floor, as close to the center of the property as you can? It doesn't matter if you stack things on it or around it, while I go and tweak the perimeter stones, then ensure the main ward links and includes the notice me not ward. These aren't perfect but their better than nothing by a long way. They are however, drawing their magic from us so you two need to limit your usage after we leave as you will tire sooner especially while they are initially charging. You both should spend a few minutes every few hours touching this stone too for the next day or two. I will get a team together to place permanent wards as soon as we have worked out how to pay for them, so hopefully within two weeks."

"I will pay for…

"Harry you can't go into Gringotts like that. Our best defense is that no one knows what you look like. This type of expense the Goblin's would demand a face to face meeting with you before allowing release of the funds. As heir to an Ancient and Noble house you will likely find restrictions until your twenty-fifth birthday. Most get annoyed at seventeen when they see they can still only access a trust fund.

"The fund is usually sourced with a greater amount of galleons annually, but also often then comes with actual management and conservation clauses to ensure the wealth is not being squandered. Gringotts will demand to teach the heir how to handle their wealth. In many ways depending on the level of scrutiny the magical guardian placed on you, and knowing Dumbledore, I would expect it to be next to none. You are likely to find it harder to use your money than you did previously.

"Dumbledore would have filled in all the paperwork allowing you to use what you had been using, and now you will have to prove justification to the Gringotts board in charge of transference out of the main Potter account, and for withdrawal for just about everything from your trust account above the allowed maintenance and the last year of Hogwarts school fees and costs. It might be easier to get blood from a stone than get your money from Gringotts." Bill informed them before heading towards the perimeter.

Turning back after a few steps with a wicked grin stretched across his face, Bill calmly added. "You should get that keystone into the basement soon. It is draining your magic as you hold it, far faster than it drains Moody and mine. I strongly advise you get it placed before you become too magically exhausted to hold your glamour. Especially seen as the way Crookshanks is behaving and staring at Heather. I think he thinks that Heather-half-kneazle-hybrid is in heat."


	5. Chapter 5

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

With two birds in two hands, dinner will likely be on the floor

 _Previously_

 _Neville guiltily excused himself, while Luna appeared to ensure that she had fanned the flames as much as possible …._

"Neville, did you do anything to upset Mrs. Weasley, and who is Heather? Was Ginevra's melt down at Dumbledore's funeral because of Hermione and this Heather witch?" Augusta Longbottom queried her grandson as soon as he escaped from the Weasley family argument that had a few station stragglers trying to listen in on. The current running gossip was Harry had absconded with a madly suggested two or the worse rumors said three witches of ill repute.

She had a valid reason to wait, seen as her grandson had been dragged into the room. The rest of these gossip harpies just didn't have anything going on in their lives; causing them to be pathetically attempting to glean gossip from the overloud, and over-bearing Weasley matriarch. One would think Molly would at least put up sound proof charms if she had no control of her volume. Augusta glared at a group that used the filthy word instead of using 'muggleborn'. They had been claiming Heather was likely the same as Hermione. A 'mudblood' witch, and that all mudbloods were gold diggers.

"Grandmother, can we get home and I'll answer all your questions there?" Neville replied, pointedly looking at the strangers crowding in to listen.

Just then Luna danced out being chased by a slew of even louder, if that was possible, exclamations that included, 'Scarlet Witches', 'unnatural evil practices' and 'incestuous relationships'. As the majority of the people still on platform nine and three quarters stared between Luna and her father, whom Luna was enthusiastically greeting, Augusta thought enough was enough, and proceeded to cast numerous sound proofing charms on the exterior of the waiting room area. Luna and Mr. Lovegood left oblivious to the looks and thoughts from the clueless busy bodies that were examining them.

"Good idea, Neville let's get home and enjoy your summer vacation." Mrs. Longbottom declared turning her nose at those that obviously had nothing better to do.

Neville had initially managed to escape the grilling, as when they got home his favorite great uncle Saul had needed something from his grandmother. Saul was his grandmother's brother, and hadn't done the things that his grandfather's brother, Algie, had done to try to get him to show his magic. With the two of them heading to the Manor study he had enjoyed some time in his own room. He was actually half way through the Herbology Digest, and was thinking of what he planned to do in his greenhouses this summer first, when Tilly called him down to dinner. He even was able to enjoy dinner as his great uncle was monopolizing the dinner conversation.

However, when great uncle Saul had looked at his pocket watch, squawked; yes Neville was certain that this was a first he'd witnessed. It was still a squawk, one that occurred before great uncle Saul had regained his composure and made a few quick excuses and apologies on having to leave, and left. Several embarrassing minutes went by before Neville and his grandmother recovered.

After complaining to Neville on his great uncle's bad behavior as if this was somehow Neville's fault his grandmother swung back onto her questions she had been asking at Kings Cross. "Right Neville, you stated you would answer my questions once we got home. Who is this Heather witch, and what is her relationship with Mr. Potter and Hermione?"

"I am not really familiar with her grandmother. Today was the first day I met her. She has not ever been introduced to Harry Potter either. Hermione would likely know more about her than anyone else." Neville skirted the first question.

"How, ever would you know that Heather and Harry have never been introduced? It's not like you know every second of Mr. Potter's life?" his grandmother interrogated.

"Grandmother I have no way to explain it but I can state definitely that neither formally, casually, nor by clandestine methods, have the two ever been at the same place together at the same time." Neville replied.

"Okay well I will accept that as far as you know, that is the truth. However, I am disappointed in how little you know. Do you really know nothing about Heather? You are both in Hogwarts for most of the year. You need to socialize with more people at school. By now you should know all the students in your own form and those that are at least within two years of your form."

"Heather actually hasn't yet been to Hogwarts."

"Well I will be having words with Molly. How can she talk so… so… Well if Heather is only a little child… How old is Heather?" Mrs. Longbottom demanded.

Neville was so tempted to say ten, but knew that he would be brought up a liar. For if he did, his grandmother would be flooing Mrs. Weasley and chewing her ear off before he even finished saying the word 'ten'. He also decided that it was best he didn't answer with two ages, so replied, "She is the same age as Hermione right now."

"You have not been associating with a day-schooler? You know I was adamant that I would never allow you to make friends with a student of those three schools Neville!"

"Grandmother, I don't know much about Heather, but I definitely know she hasn't attended one of those three schools." In his mind he still couldn't work up what was so bad about them. His mum's parents had gone to one of them. Then wanting to cut her off from the even worse accusation he knew his grandmother believed, "I do know she is formally taught. Heather is not a hedge witch."

"Does she go to Beauxbatons?"

"No, Heather can't speak any foreign languages." As soon as Neville said it he kicked himself for offering information that would lead to more questions, and remove so many schools that Heather could attend.

Augusta was mentally puzzling through the information gleaned on this new witch. No foreign languages, well that in addition to Beauxbatons also ruled out Durmstrang and most abroad schools.

"She does speak Magical English, not that atrocious accented Colonial English that is the only thing they can handle in the outskirts of the Empire?"

"Yes, Heather speaks Queen's, I mean Magical English."

Well that means she doesn't go to Salem or one of the schools even further away from civilization. There were no other magic schools left. If she is being formally taught at home… expensive tutors… would have to be pureblood of course if that was the case, couldn't be anything else… That meant Heather's parents were obviously affluent, from a well to do pureblood family to be able to hire the very best private tutors for their daughter, and thus be eligible the waiver from attending Hogwarts. "What is Heather's last name?"

Neville getting very nervous wondered what it would take to sate his grandmother's curiosity replied vaguely, hoping that way his response would end the string of questions he was finding harder to answer without lying as they kept being asked. "As I said grandmother, I only met her today, and unfortunately really know little more than her first name. I think I have told you everything I know on her."

"But Heather is Hermione's friend? That is how you met her?"

Well vagueness didn't stop the questions maybe just try to answer so everything points to Hermione, so Neville tried replying, "Yes, Hermione introduced me to Heather and probably knows her the best. Likely better than Heather even knows herself right now."

"Minerva is always raving on how intelligent Hermione is. They likely know each other because of studying on extra curriculum advanced topics. Heather must be smart, from a good family that is able to hire private tutors." Neville's grandmother was mainly just talking to herself, then seeming to realize her grandson was in the room turned the conversation back to him, "Neville you must write Hermione and get Heather's last name. Find out all that she knows on the girl. I will invite her to your birthday party. It is time for you to start socializing, and if I let her parents know that their avoidance of society is creating a vacuum that could destroy a reputation...

"Go write the letter now while I work out what I need to write to the poor girl's parents."

* * *

As Luna recovered from the side-along-apparition her father wandered to his desk mumbling her mum's name. His eyes had ventured into the stare that was seeing something other than reality and Luna stamped her foot in frustration. This ride on the Hogwarts express was the best day she had ever had. It was better than the almost having friends of her fourth year and she wanted to stay with her great feelings and enjoy now. Not live as Looney as she had done every day, since the day she failed to save her mum's life. Pain, hurt, sadness, fell off Looney better than water fell off a duck's back. Her dad didn't blame his daughter for killing his wife. He didn't blame her because he avoided noticing that his wife was no longer alive. Unfortunately her dad didn't even notice she had stamped her foot.

She needed to startle him. "Dad I kissed two girls at the same time today."

"That's nice sugar plum, can you take your trunk up to your room with you. I really need to plan our next hunt for crumple horned snorkack's. I am sure we will find them this time."

"I think if we take Harry Potter with us, he will agree to get me pregnant dad. Don't you think I should be getting pregnant?"

"What!" Mr. Lovegood actually fell back out of his chair. Getting up he focused on his daughter. "No I don't and no, Harry Potter, nor any boy, will be coming with us on our family trip! We do this just the two of us."

They stared at each other for several moments then her dad shoed her away and the haunting glaze encroached and covered his eyes once more. Shutting himself back off from reality. "Then I am not going this year! There is no such thing as a crumple horned snorkack anyway! I hate you! And I will not go anywhere with you! Even though I won't be spending summer with a boy, I am sure I can find a girl willing to let me stay the summer. If not? Then staying here alone is no different from being with you. You might as well be dead!" Luna slammed to door as she left. Her tirade had done little more than confuse her dad. He was lost. Yelling the most outlandish things and at the cost of hurting basically a defenseless animal she could grab his attention for mere minutes at most. The sad thought she had next was if she did actually get pregnant, she doubted even that would release her dad back into reality for more than a couple of hours. Her tears escaped even as she tightly held them back. Being Looney would be better. Looney was never hurt. A sob wrenched its way through her body. Lowering her trunk, she sank beside it, hugging her knees tightly into her crumpled form. Her arms tightly wrapped around her lower legs pulling them into herself as she attempted to vanish. She had thought today the best day, but it was the worst. To be shown what she couldn't have was not a best day.

* * *

Heather and Hermione had not only got the keystone into the unfinished basement and set it on the concrete floor, but had got both trunks out of the car's boot and into their bedrooms. Hermione's bedroom shared a Jack and Jill bathroom with their second guest, 'cough, cough', Hermione's ensuite library. This bedroom was now Heather's. She wouldn't want for books to read if she was bored.

Bill was sitting in the living room with the Grangers waiting for the delivery so he could bring back up the notice me not charms. Professor Moody was probably still out there guarding the house, hopefully not attacking their neighbors or the delivery driver.

"So will the postman miss our house?" Dan Granger asked.

"You should get a post box and not have anything delivered to the house."

"My parents are coming in less than two weeks. How do we handle that?" Mrs. Granger demanded.

"If you can't cancel the visit or change it to visiting them, can you drive them here?" Bill replied. Then their door bell rang.

As Mr. Granger opened the door to get their dinner an owl swooped in, causing the delivery driver to startle and drop their food. Mr. Granger recovered fast enough to catch it just prior to it hitting the welcome mat. As the owl landed beside Heather, and stuck out its foot requesting the attached letter be taken, a second owl swooped in landing beside Hermione and mimicked the behavior with the other twin. Both girls paled reading their letters so they obviously didn't have good news. The delivery driver stared in shock, and had to have his hand tapped to acknowledge he had been paid. He backed out of the house nearly tripping off the front doorstep.

Hermione's dad grabbed Bill before he followed the leaving delivery driver to turn on their new cloaking device. Pity he couldn't brag about owning a house that doubled as a 'klingon bird of prey', definitely cooler than calling it a 'notice me not charm'. It was more fitting with the three birds of prey currently present too. "So let's say that all suggestions offered so far for my in-laws visit are not acceptable, what options are available?"

"Either I get two small keys for you that you ensure your in-laws are wearing in contact with their skin so they can bypass the wards as if they weren't there, or I am here and have turned the notice me not off until you get them to touch the keystone for a few minutes while I chant to add them to the wards. Talking of adding, I should exit the house before my extended presence gives me access through the wards. I will try to think if there are any other options and relay it to you the next time I can get here, which will be only a few days at most." Bill then left not giving them time to think of other awkward questions or more owls to arrive or whatever next madness was scheduled for this evening.

"Okay Heather you're the guest, do you want to share what has arrived in your letter. Do we need to get out our largest guns." Mr. Granger asked.

"Guns might be nice. Well to cut to the chase. I am being warned that I am almost certainly being pursued for a marriage contract to Neville Longbottom."

"Wow I actually thought your letter could not be as bad as mine." Hermione said. "For mine I just need to ask mum and dad to let me have a second female friend over.

Heather had no clue what they ate. Dinner was uncomfortable as her presence was obviously causing the Grangers difficulty. They had all read both letters. There was no dinner conversation, Crookshanks was spending an awful amount of attention on her, likely to keep Bill's earlier joke running, or he didn't want to lose her to his male competitor. He kept butting his head against her legs and begging to be allowed on her lap, which was not happening. She was going to have her bedroom door closed tonight, she didn't trust the cat. Hedwig was happily sitting on Hermione's shoulder, showing her back to Heather. Whether, the cold treatment was due to her not liking how she looked, how she was gaining attention from Crookshanks or Neville via his grandmother, because she was partially a half-kneazle, or some other reason she was clueless.

Finally, thank Merlin, the dinner from awkward'ville was over. Pots washed and kitchen tidied up and the twins requested to go to sleep rather than stay up. Both knew eventually Hermione's parents would think up difficult questions to field and they were tired and needed the day to end. Obviously the tiredness at least was mirrored as all four went bed. Heather of course verbally demanding that Crookshanks was not allowed in her room, which only got a response from Crookshanks that she swore, was smiling wider than the Cheshire cat ever grinned, even if he shouldn't be able to smile.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

A Lord's Charge

As soon as Croaker had closed the dining room door he rushed to get out of the house and beyond the wards. As he ran he pulled his cloak over his head and the charms of his work robes activated. If only his sister hadn't been late returning with his grand-nephew he wouldn't have to respond to some key department head of the ministry that had raised an 'all alert alarm' because he had thought he saw something. Or worse their pet was puking because they had fed them chocolate frogs. However, not only had he not accomplished his errand, but he couldn't politely get out of dinner, which had interrupted their discussion, and placed it on hold 'till after dinner.

He had planned out the whole evening, encourage his sister to sign a few documents, then get back into his office where he had spent most of his days since the official announcement, slightly more than a year ago, that you-know-who was back. After that the fools had became more idiotic than usual. The department of mysteries had a rather tentative connection to the rest of the ministry. One where the ministry provided them funding, and they provided their active combat operatives that weren't actively involved in research to be a force the ministry could call open in need. It only took a few ridiculous calls from the numerous inept bureaucrats that called 'all alerts' because someone had not been adequately deferential to them, when even the greenest greenhorn realized that bunkering in the department could be stretched to them being actively involved in research. I mean they were actively involved in research, even if it was volunteering to hold the clipboard for a member of the research branch.

Unfortunately it couldn't be stretched to I was on the way to the department to find some research I could actively participate in to ignore your asinine 'all alert alarm' because you found you had no bog paper while a-sitting on your throne. Finally clearing the anti-apparition wards and apparating to the go room and he was momentarily flummoxed. Sure there were the usual ten 'on duty' aurors scrambling into protective uniforms that might be ready to go in fifteen to twenty minutes. There were however, also four experienced other unspeakables that like him, would be ripped as greenhorns after getting back from the latest _'crisis'_.

Croaker took command of them and nodded to Falcon, so she knew she had point. He armed himself with his offhand shielding wand, whilst joining the out ward facing group to Falcon's left, he also grabbed with his right hand the port key the four had taken from the alert table that made several high-grade portkeys keyed to the ministry official's token that was the source of the 'all alert alarm'. It was just shy three minutes since the alarm was raised, when the group port-keyed out, ready to face an embarrassing situation they couldn't even imagine that caused the latest call to arms.

Prior to arriving as they punched their way through an unexpected anti-portkeying ward they realized that this was actually a legitimate alarm. As their high-grade portkey would have been created with a tunnel through any friendly ward, so it didn't have to do what a normal portkey couldn't, and what it was now doing. As their spin's frequency varied looking for a harmonic to exploit against the foreign wards their travel shuddered forward, causing stress centered on internal organs. They were going to be bumping this landing; hot, hard and violently. Exactly how everyone liked to arrive into a potential warzone.

Knees took the brunt of the two plus "g" landing, training kept all five, though crouched, upright as three nearly clear shields turtled the arrivals. The portkey dropped as all five drew their second or like in Croaker's case primary wand, with the hand that had been holding the portkey. Seeing the primary and her body shields not under fire, Croaker requested, "Status Ma'am?" As the three shields that three of the incoming five had raised on entry were dropped, seeing no immediate threat. The head of the Auror department was nearly as good as giving him an extra unspeakable, and would never have called for help, unless the situation was dire.

"Niece floo'ed out just before connection was lost. We three are only friendlies. Ward's four minutes at best from collapse. Counted over twenty hostiles. Haven't seen Him. When is back-up arriving?" Madam Bones efficiently replied.

Croaker during the earlier conversation had activated his alarm, and was sure his team had too. He had pointed to Falcon and raised three fingers, she had negated with two fingers. Placing his hand on Dove's shoulder he shoed her while keeping Dove beside him "Pessimistically five minutes on mine, but seen as your finest were rolling around on the go room when we bailed, twenty minutes on yours. Your wards could fall any minute so the initial dance card is us. Are they any good at providing cover fire?" While talking Falcon who hadn't been too happy on the split had though acquiesced leaving with the team's best close range heavy hitter Viper, whom she had wanted to leave him as his back-up, and Bear the team's tank, shield specialist and secondary healer.

"Watkins isn't too shabby. He isn't as good as me though. Can we think about this optimistically though?"

Croaker laughed, "There are few in my department that I think could stand-up toe to toe with you Bones, and optimism is for after you somehow survived. Pessimism is your best friend for this cluster f... Dove, your right of Bones then Watkins, Bones is point. Watkins is providing covering fire against anything on your left. You," pointing to the second guard he didn't have a name for, "are to be shielding Bones and Watkins. Dove you are shielding unless I let something in on the right. I'll take the fight to them, right of your position. Bones advance or retreat as straight as you can. Falcon will be protecting your far left from the rear, but I need you to hold a one-ten sweep centered on the front door." Un-heard by the none-unspeakables, Croaker heard Falcon chime in on his earpiece charm that was within the cloak's hood that if Viper and her split from Bear left and right they could hold one-eighty sweep.

"Negative! Standard one-thirty sweep of three four man teams, you're down a man." Croaker stated and waved off Bones confused look, "Talking to Falcon, you give me one-ten we'll have less overlap." Normally he would have his speech contained with the hood but there wasn't time to switch it on and off as he organized a group that both had and hadn't got unspeakable cloaks, and far too high a chance of mixing who he talked to. Bones could roll with the extraneous details.

"And you're down your whole team! We will stay partial split off Bear and hold one-fifty if you swear Bone's is good enough to hold one-ten." Falcon response was heard only by Croaker and Dove.

"Agreed, and yes will hold 'till second." Croaker waved off Bones again.

A deep growling male voice challenged Croaker. "I should have your wing at least, sir." Dove voiced so all heard his comment. Croaker thinking initially of an after mission reprimand then shelved those thoughts as he thought if they were around for the after mission talking he would let this insubordination slide, and it might be inspiration for the aurors causing them to deliver beyond expectation.

"I never really played well with others Dove. Protect the primary and you can patch me up when the music stops." The wards fell and they heard Falcon leaving through the rear accompanied with rapid spell fire surprising the terrorists. "Well then, cannons to the right of me…" Croaker spelled the front door to open with his offhand and had shot three extreme blasting curses with alternating wands to the areas that became visible as the door travelled; prior to exiting into the chaos he had served.

Bones followed in his lee with a diamond formation behind her that meant that Dove and Watkins were leaving through the right and left of the door at nearly the same time as she covered their exit. Ahead of her to the right was a pure madness of multiple spells, constantly going out at an arc of nearly one-sixty, which had the death eaters on their back foot. They appeared to have completely shocked the death eaters as they were allowing them to get out of the bottle neck of the entrance ways. Bones added her own blasting curses to the left and straight ahead. Watkins was providing covering fire better than she had hoped. They were covering nearly twenty more that the requested one-ten. She noticed that over ninety percent of the spell fire was theirs going out, and saw multiple enemy fallen. If the enemy stayed this confused they might just survive this.

The second she thought that way, it seemed someone with a cruel sense of humor decided to hammer in Croaker's belief of pessimism during the fight. From the left and far right two individuals rallied the enemy and heavy fire came in that was too much for the shielding. A piercing spell hit her left hand and she dropped her left wand losing thirty present of her fire power, and the ability for shielding unforgivables while staying offensive. Watkins had a fist chunk of the left side of his torso taken from the peripheral edge of a spell in the blasting curse family that left a gaping hole in the wall of the manor house behind them. At least Mathews had deflected most of the spell to the left of their position and thankfully Watkins left arm was fully above the trajectory or he wouldn't have it anymore. Dove dropped his shield from the center and shifted left to stabilize Watkins before he bled out. So with Mathews throwing everything to shielding their exposed left side and Bones shielding the front with her only wand and Watkins down, their unit was offering no offense and that gave the attackers confidence to recover.

Croaker had somehow strong armed through whatever rallying had almost started on his side so at least their right was currently safe. Thankfully then the second group of unspeakables arrived on her new position. Two raced toward Croaker, Four as a unit pressed with two attackers covered by the other two shielding straight ahead of her position and the final two took off to the far left to get to the back of the property and help out Falcon's team of three. She wondered how they could work out where their colleagues were and how to split up without the hand signs she at least had seen Croaker and Falcon use earlier.

Bones didn't see much more of the fight. With the new team pressing the front and Watkins patched, Dove headed right toward Croaker, making that squad full strength. Mathews and a patched together Watkins demanded she get into the house. She didn't push the point as she wanted to get Watkins and Mathews to safety. She could rejoin after leaving Mathews to watch Watkins. She knew that she could get back to help the unspeakables faster if she helped Watkins hobble into her home, with Mathews protecting them, than if she wasted time arguing in the open. Arguing wouldn't get her guard detail into safety also. However, they had barely reached her home when the death eaters fled.

The final tally was seventeen dead death eaters, nine had escaped. Two on their side were badly injured, Bear was in worst shape, but hopefully she wasn't likely to die, she had already been taken from the crime scene. Croaker was the next badly hurt but Bones figured he was too stubborn to die. How he managed to trick his body into fighting as he did constantly at full strength, when it was more dead than alive, she couldn't be bothered to worry about. Viper and Falcon were the next most injured and would be recovering for at least a week from their injuries. Their fifth wounded, Watkins should be perfectly healed by tomorrow. Her injury was already completely healed so she didn't count herself amongst the injured. So on a day she thought for sure was going to be her last; the good side had all survived.

She couldn't help but laugh as right then her on duty aurors portkeyed in. She needed to think up some nasty assignments over the next few weeks. "Go make a perimeter and look for wands, assume everything is an enemy portkey for handling procedure." Saying the last part let them know how incompetent she thought they were, and in case they hadn't worked out what she thought of them she carried on. "Also search for the anti-portkey ward and get that torn down too."

Croaker twisted his head from the stretcher Dove had strapped him in, as if he was an invalid, to the one Falcon was on beside him. "Not that I am complaining but what was your team doing that meant you were ready to respond immediately."

"The Potter wards collapsed earlier today and we were alpha for the site even though he would have been on the express at the time. Lucky beta were pulled back as soon as it was determined there was no threat. But seen as it shouldn't have been possible because…

"Well then we were _'glorified guards'_ , but nothing was found even if the whizzes searched for hours. They were saying the wards appeared to never have existed when the alarm came in. They went back to the department and we met your sorry arse. It is ironic that in the two deployments the one that we thought would be interesting was the boring waste of time. Then we got this one as the follow up.

Madam Bones realized her aurors had unfortunately competently located, and brought down the anti apparition ward as the paper pushers portkeyed in on their normal portkeys for after event evaluation.

"Madam Bones, why did you floo your niece out first. Standard procedure should have been you leaving first at the sign of danger? You endangered your guards' lives when you didn't take care of yours."

Or Joy, she looked at Croaker and silently begged him to do something.

"Dove," Croaker got the attention of Falcon's team healer, "You should strap Madam Bones onto another stretcher as we need her looked at by the department to verify that unknown spell didn't do anything and see if we can reverse engineer it. Now that the anti-portkey wards are down we need to be immediately extracted so valuable information is not lost.

"Crucio!" Lord Voldemort, yelled, cursing the second of the examples he was making of the hopeless idiots that couldn't attack and kill one woman. He had sent twenty-six of his follows. Only eight came back. Well nine but he was dead before the healer could arrive. Two were so badly injured that they wouldn't be much use to him anymore. So he decided to use them as an example to drive home to his followers that there was no reason to ever dare failing in one of his commands. It saved on wasting healing supplies on them too. He had quickly waved the healers off from healing them.

Authors Note: The chapter's title and Croaker's battle cry about cannons are referencing Lord Tennyson's 'Charge of the Light Brigade" so that is obviously not mine.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Who give's this daughter to that daughter?

 _Previously_

 _Obviously the tiredness at least was mirrored as all four went bed. Heather of course verbally demanding that Crookshanks was not allowed in her room, which only got a response from Crookshanks that she swore, was smiling wider than the Cheshire cat ever grinned, even if he shouldn't be able to smile._

Normally Harry had no trouble waking up. It probably helped that both the smallest room at number four privet drive and the Gryffindor dorm room, he had lived in at school for the last six years, both had easterly facing windows that allowed the sun to naturally chase away the last vestiges of the night's shadows. In fact the conditioning from his relatives of his life's earlier years, even though the cupboard under the stairs had no window, likely made the morning sun redundant. He was however, this morning, slouched at the kitchen table inhaling coffee fumes. Even though he could likely count on one hand, and have most fingers left over, the number of times he had previously had a cup of coffee.

The thought that the Dursleys' didn't have a kitchen table, reminded him that, yes, he was at the Granger's house. It was his third reminder so far this morning on his departure from normal, but his brain was still struggling to reboot. He probably had the blue screen of death; yes he was at the top of his game today.

Initially it was the incessant polite knocking on the door. He had figured either his aunt or uncle needed Dudley for something. For it was far to civilized of a disturbance to have anything to do with him. So wake up number one was from Hermione on some need of a family 'pow-wow'. Harry was not yet enough awake to decide if the word 'pow-wow' could be considered a second wake-up call or not.

The second-and-two-third wake-up call was his realization after splashing cold water on his face from the vanity basin that he was going to have to sit in the bathroom. He was fairly sure the Granger's wouldn't have been impressed if their guest chose to decorate the bathroom floor with a golden shower. He was not going to even admit to himself how close they had come to said gift. Part of him argued that the whole wrong plumbing had to count as half a dozen wake-up calls by itself. However, the argument, that was sustained, was that here he was. Slouched at the kitchen table inhaling coffee fumes, and with fingers crossed hoping reboot number three would get a few of the synapse to fire at a better rate than a one cylinder moped, with a shaker of salt in the fuel tank.

"Not a morning person?" Mr. Granger pleasantly asked.

Harry took a swig of coffee, swirled it in the hope it would do a better job going down agitated and swallowed prior to trying to get visual input. Namely begging at least one set of muscles of his eyelids to open an eye. The right eye flickered and provided him with the knowledge that aside Mr. Granger, who was so awake it should be a criminal offense, Hermione was the only other member of the four at the table awake. Further, Hermione's status of awake didn't have the most solid of foundations.

Having closed his eyes, Harry at least did face in Hermione's Dad's direction whilst stating, "Mr. Granger, as you seem to me the only one awake I think we could delay the family 'pow-wow' for a while."

"Sorry Harry all important family meetings are held in the morning over pots of coffee."

This comment actually enabled Harry to open his eyes. "Mrs. Granger, if this is how you two are normally in the morning I think you put yourself at a disadvantage for family meetings."

"Don't worry daughter, he needs all the help he can get; and yes, I know you are not Hermione, but I've decided you are my Heather."

"Seconded," stated Hermione.

"Third; Heather has been unanimously voted into the Grangers. Heather for all subsequent motions you now have a vote. Er, do we allow Crookshanks to determine in case of a tie-breaker?" Mr. Granger pondered.

"Seconded," added Hermione once more.

"You can't be serious!" Harry challenged.

"Well we are playing a bit Heather, but it is how we sort things out if we can. You might be at a complete handicap though, with the whole slow waking-up and not knowing our routine." Mrs. Granger informed.

"Being tired in the morning is not normal for me. I am unsure if it is the magic drawn by the polyjuice change to this whole," Harry indicates his new body. "The ward keystone or just all the weirdness of yesterday that caused this. Also how can Hermione's votes count, she has just said the same word twice and could be saying it while half asleep."

"You also Heather, have a new body now. I am not a morning person and you might not be now like your bodies mum. It will take a few days to know for sure. As to Hermione, she is playing with you."

"Seconded," Hermione smiled at Harry. "Anyway Mum, Heather you two awake now?"

After both nods, Mr. Granger addressed them. "Heather, you are now our daughter too, and part of the Granger family. So you get a vote just like your older sister, who has a vote. We had decided on the event of two way splits that Crookshanks would help out. We decided this prior to waking you up then went through this to show how we try to get agreements as a family. So we were playing and also showing you the Granger 'pow-wow'. It is not rigid in formality like our spoof. If you later become Harry again we will re-address, but that currently is irrelevant. You unanimously are Heather Granger, and are an adult, thus get a full vote in the family. When Hermione was a little girl, I think she was about eight we gave her half a vote."

"Yeah, and I quickly worked out that gave me nothing too." Hermione replied. "If I had you then Heather we might have had some ability when one parent chose to abstain."

"We likely would each have been given third votes, Hermione." Harry said.

"Oh she's good."

"Well she is a Granger." Mr. Granger replied to his wife.

"I think the intelligence is from the Goss side more than Granger." Mrs. Granger added.

"Now then Heather, moving on, when you drank the potion to become half-kneazle you planned to wait at least twenty months until returning to normal?" Mr. Granger asked.

Heather replied, "Unless the whole mad-evil-wizard that wants me dead was resolved, yes."

"Right, ignoring the quick 'get-out-of-jail-card' option let's just say you were willing to be what the potion made you for twenty months. You willingly drank the potion and then discovered it came with a side effect that made you an identical twin to our daughter, Hermione. What we are saying, is for your health you must accept this side effect for the next twenty months. Vacillating between Heather and Harry is only going to cause issues. While this potion is in effect, we are going to call you Heather, and treat you as our daughter. You are going to think yourself as Heather, Hermione's younger twin sister, our daughter. We are your Mum and Dad." Mr. Granger continued.

"Seconded," Hermione said whilst sticking her tongue out at her sister.

"Third," Mrs. Granger pointedly looked at Heather.

Harry looked around the whole family of Granger's that were now saying nothing, just staring at him. "How the hell is this, a democracy?" Mrs. Granger raised an eyebrow. "You're going to make me say it?" Mr. Granger nodded at the statement. "If I nay or abstain, it is meaningless as the three votes beat my one or no vote if I want to disagree." Mrs. Granger nodded now, while smiling knowingly. "This is not fair!" Hermione started laughing at her. "Is this not duress?" All three shook their heads at her. "You are going to force me anyway and you have the majority. You could argue that by you already having the majority I have to agree and vote with you. As me voting against it, means I am not following what the majority family voted." The room was filled with Cheshire cat grins.

She had to think. How would Hermione handle this? She had to have a similar thing happen to her when she had half a vote. If she was Hermione's identical twin sister shouldn't she have the intelligence that Hermione had also? Drawing blanks she went with option two, use the only power they had inadvertently given her. Use the relationships against them. "Mum, three on one is bullying. You wouldn't stand by while your baby was picked on. Please change your vote." Her mum shook her head at her. Fine big guns she allowed the frustration of the situation to overwhelm her. The loss of self, the confusion, the conflicting feelings on how to handle being stuck in a woman's body, she also dug the claws that were under her glamour thus no one could see into her leg near her inside knee and scratched them up the accessible in side of her leg to her short bottoms. With tears and pouted lips, "Dad, please, for me?" Dad also shook his head. She would get him back, the drawn blood and new scratches hurt. "Sister?" Hermione couldn't prevent a laugh, but disagreed on changing her vote. Heather looked over them a final pass but the tyrants hadn't budged. "If you truly were my parents and sister you wouldn't gang-up on me!"

Even while she was presenting her arguments and attempting to use her power as their daughter, several things were going on subconsciously unknown to all. Firstly, Heather had already accepted the Grangers as her parents the prior evening on the drive home from Kings Cross. Secondly Harry had accepted them as Heather's parents because it was something he always wanted. Next both had noticed how much everything seemed to be coped with if they looked at the problem from Heather's point of view and how it was the perfect way to escape being the boy who lived. Lastly fickle magic cemented a decision it had began the prior evening when it appeared that Heather was being attacked by friends and foes alike, from all directions.

What it had decided to work with was the source of fairy tales where the put upon girl is saved through the power of her godmother. Old entrenched magic that was even read within the world where magic was oft otherwise scorned. The prior evening it had locked down the Black wards to protect her, but Harry wasn't the closest claimant to keep them. Harry's godmother was unable to help, his godfather too could not, being dead.

However, if she was encouraged to Heather's thinking over Harry then as godson became goddaughter, could not then the godfather be the more magical godmother. A godmother capable to do the only magic that could help while dead. Namely enable Sirius to have been Heather's father. In a tapestry in the second floor drawing room of number twelve Grimmauld Place a new name was added as daughter to the scorched out name above. Heather 'smudged ink' Black was born. In the Granger's kitchen a girl's psyche was nudged to accept the change better.

"Well it is under duress, but fine, fourth."

Hermione squealed and hugged her little sister, joined by mum and dad in short order.

"So more coffee?" getting only one yes from Heather, she filled their two cups. Re-sitting and savoring a sip mum queried. "Will the Weasley's also start preparing marriage contracts for one or both of you, girls?"

"They're members of the order so they know who Heather is so unlikely, though they are handling it oddly." Hermione informed their parents.

"How are they handling it oddly?" Dad asked.

"Well it is more as they see Heather at fault for anything they dislike, but don't want anything from her. They expect Harry, when he returns, to owe them for these supposed transgressions." Hermione replied and her sister nodded.

"Fine we will worry about odd Weasley behavior later. I take it that as Heather is an adult as long as she doesn't accept the Longbottom contract, when Neville's grandmother presents it then we don't need to worry.

"Correct." Heather replied.

"Actually Heather we might need to worry." Her sister disagreed. "While I was researching laws for defending Buckbeak, I thought I had a valid case. After losing that case I spent my spare time over the next three years really studying magical laws and the problem is that it is magic that makes the magic world so messed up."

"Why gee's sister, who'd have thought? If we just cured the magical world of magic it would then work as well as the muggle one."

"No what I mean is that magic is based off of rituals, beliefs, old wife's tales, suppositions. Ideas get entrenched and time provides weight. Each time a spell is cast it makes it more likely for the next time it is cast, for it to work. Magical laws, actually have magic within them. They also disagree with themselves far more than muggle laws do.

"In the world we grew up in, solicitors and barristers argue their current cases based off of prior verdicts that support the ruling they desire. Good ones can win the same argument on both sides. In the magical world the legal powerhouses are enchanters and enchantresses, because they can coax the magic to support their side of the argument.

"The basis of the law in the muggle world is from the most eloquent argument. Logic lends itself a bit, but as I stated the good ones could win both side, so it is more a case of emphasizing the logic that supports your position, while hoping the opposition fails to utilize those areas of logic that undermines what you want.

"In the magic world it is creating the desired result, and the best enchanter twists all the magic that flows in agreement to their argument, if there is a strong source of agreement that is in logical juxtaposition to another you are using, it doesn't matter. The two can be used together and though illogical you aren't hindered by this.

"After last night I realized magic influenced us yesterday and can illustrate what I am talking about." Hermione took a break and looked at her family. They were all following her and paying attention.

"Once you accepted you were stuck as a female. We started to think of a name, as calling you Harry would be confusing. Why did you choose Heather?" Hermione asked her sister.

"I wanted to keep my initials for my monogram, like on my trunk to not be impacted, and women in my family are named after flowers. I liked, Heather. I wouldn't pick Hyacinth. You suggested Perdita; planning on informing your parents they were grandparents." Heather answered.

"We will come back to my 'Perdita' later. How many things do you have monogrammed?" Hermione asked.

"One, just my trunk," her sister said.

"So in order, to agree with one monogrammed item that after next year would likely not be used, you wanted to restrict yourself to a name starting with the letter 'H'?"

Heather thinking for a moment wondered why she had been so set on not even allowing the idea of looking at flowers starting with another letter. "It is odd."

"Not odd, magical." Hermione while holding up her hand said, "Wait on me I'll explain shortly."

"Heather, you know lots about James and Lily Potter."

"Lots! All I flippin' know is that I looked just like James Potter, but with Lily's eyes. My father was a prankster, bully, illegal animagus, head-boy, and just yesterday something that will make it difficult for me with Gringotts, until I am twenty-five. My mother I know even less on. She was studious, smartest witch, head-girl, and had the horse, Petunia, as a sister." Heather angrily replied.

"Heather you said all the females in your mother's family were named after flowers." Hermione pointed out.

"Well they are. Lily and Petunia, those are both flowers." Heather stated.

"There is an example of how magic is in the laws in the magic world. You knew nothing of Potter naming conventions, but a pattern was formed from the only information you had from your mother's family. The black's name their children after constellations. A pattern formed and it became a naming convention. Naming conventions are not as prevalent in the muggle world because it doesn't have magic backing it up. I fell afoul of magic when I suggested Perdita. Your current body is from polyjuice from one of my hairs and one of Crookshanks. Magic made an argument that we are your parents, and thus my subconscious suggestion of name.

"So now we return to Neville's grandmother's imminent marriage contract. If you were not magically mature then your magical guardian would accept or deny the contract on your behalf. Unfortunately, firstly, Dumbledore is dead. The ministry is potentially compromised so it is unclear who would be your magical guardian now. That leads to secondly, from use of polyjuice you emancipated yourself. However, thirdly your method of emaciation was by making yourself a hybrid, and through history the enchanters and enchantresses have entrenched the wizard laws to limit other creatures' power.

"When I chose this method I was thinking of war not courtroom battles. What I am unfortunately stating is if magic chooses option three as the enforcement. Then the first person that writes a magical marriage contract against your legal name would be able to force you to marry them and you couldn't stop them."

"What is that clause against my legal name?" Heather's voice trembled.

"Good, that is our largest loophole. I now am going to muddy your name up so you don't entrench yourself in a single legal name. Don't consider one more appealing. Recall magic is belief and intent based. You're better off thinking how any can fit. Thus you can use your strength of other names, to shrug off a binding contract against only one name." Hermione continued.

"Now Heather, don't mention the parts of the conversation on the train I omit, I don't want my parents to be limited, and mum and dad this name I don't want you to discuss with each other or us, OK?" Hermione asked and waited for acceptance from all three.

"While on the train we discussed that as you would be my identical twin we should allow my parents to choose your middle name as we were forcing a second daughter on them. This was magic actually enforcing a perceived cost on you. Just as life debts are reinforced by magic this was actually a payment, and we didn't notice magic influencing us."

"Wait! Hold on a minute, Hermione. You are going on currently as if magic is alive." Heather challenged.

"Magic, isn't alive as we think of the word alive, but it is entrenched in prior rituals, patterns, beliefs. Just like Ollivander said, 'the wand chooses the wizard'. Magic is not alive but it is very old and has got weight behind it because it is so old." Hermione countered.

"So mum and dad, internally chose a middle name for Heather. Just try not to say it around each other or us. Next Heather, try not to see yourself as a Potter, Granger, or Crookshanks, while thinking you could also classify as 'Granger ne Potter'." Hermione continued.

"Hermione, dear; you are going to run that last one by us and explain what you mean by it. I think I speak for both mum and myself, when I say we have a problem with that one." Dad chimed in, while Emma also had a keen interest in hearing what their daughter meant by this too.

"Well in a way Heather is both the same person as Harry and someone else entirely. This is similar in a marriage where the spouses are thought to being held jointly and severally liable. Sort of two individuals, and yet at the same time together a whole made up of two halves. So one could argue that 'Harry Potter' and 'Heather Granger' are a fusion of two that in marriage became one person 'Heather Granger formally Harry Potter', or in simpler terms 'Heather Granger ne Potter'. The advantage of her being married to her prior male self is that as you can only marry one person the current marriage to herself will prevent other marriage contracts from becoming binding."

Dan Granger relaxed from the explanation that thankfully didn't have his daughter married to his, well other daughter.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

A little 'S' and 'M' and creature comforts

 _Previously_

 _Dan Granger relaxed from the explanation that thankfully didn't have his daughter married to his, well other daughter._

"So we have a plan of protecting Heather until she doesn't have to be a partial kneazle with diminished legal power. Including today, your dad and I have only four days before needing to return to work for a week. Then your grandparents will be here. So in those four days, that include this weekend, we have to worry about how we are handling my parents' visit, Luna's letter, Heather's wardrobe, our protections, concerns we need to be aware of in regards the ministry and the war. Is there anything else we need to know or do?" their mum asked.

"I need to visit Flourish and Blotts. Heather has a task Dumbledore gave to her that is critical to the war. Ron and I are going to help her. We need information before we can work out what we need." Hermione added, before looking at Heather. "Anything you want to add, sister?"

Heather was still stuck on the worry of the resurrected wardrobe problem, just shook her head unable to think of anything.

"I have nothing currently to add too." Mr. Granger added. "With Heather's task and information gathering both subtasks of the war topic, that adds the topics, Ron and magical supplies. That means first topic Luna. Princess, what is your take on her letter?"

"Well to start with the problems with the request. Grandma and Grandpa are coming. So it will be awkward enough without a second friend being here during the visit. Also she still has the trace on her so it could bring the ministry. If she travels with her father she isn't in as much danger from the war as if she was with us. I know it will hurt but I think she is better off and safer even if initially she will have emotional pain of thinking friends' let her down. We can make it up to her later but it makes this more dangerous for us and significantly harder. Having said that my emotional response is to beg you to let her stay with us and find ways to overcome the hardships it causes us. I have several vials of polyjuice potion and I know Luna would not be hung up with using the potion where Ron is more stubborn. We have Crookshanks. No we would need a female half kneazle…

"I think I have to abstain from a vote on this as I am too emotionally caught up to make a rational choice." Hermione summarized her take on the issue.

"Noted, Heather do you have anything to add on Luna?" her dad queried putting Heather into turmoil.

Heather replayed everything Hermione had said along with recalling the contents of Luna's letter she had read last night. Two phrases that kept repeating from the letter jarred against Hermione's comment of making it up to her later. Which didn't make sense to her? Why would they nag her attention to see a connection between them? Luna's first comment about how during the year before last was wonderful for she felt like she almost had friends. Of course both of them were feeling guilty in how little they had interacted with Luna this last year. The guilt though huge, was hiding the niggling more dangerous worry. That was linked to her other comment in the letter and Hermione's comment on making it up to her later.

"Heather…

"I am thinking. Give me a moment there is something." Heather cut her dad off.

She had to corral her thoughts again. The second comment of Luna's was discussing the train trip home for this summer. "She didn't mention or reference it like we were almost like friends?"

"I am guilty too for how little time I spent with Luna…

"No, Hermione that is a red herring. The issue is the train trip we took home this summer. On that the way she talks is as we are her friends, she doesn't reference it, especially in the negative. Prior to that she thought of us as 'this must be like having friends', but she actually risked everything in thinking we now are friends. It's not explicitly stated but it is implied in her word choice. I am not explaining this really well." Heather frustratingly forced out.

"My worry is we won't have the chance to make it up to her later, if we fail Luna. I know I am already a burden, and apparently only have access to the few hundred galleons in my trunk so shouldn't ask for anything, but we need to find another solution at least. I think the Luna prior to our Express travel could have handled with the mask she had worn.

"On the train ride she abandoned her mask. She opened up to us and became a whole person. She kissed both of us in front of the whole Weasley family, one of us right after the other. She even told us she was welcome to a relationship with either of us. However, having opened the shell, she is now far more vulnerable and based on the emotion of the letter most likely would refuse to hide behind a mask once more if she thought there was no future worth hiding in the present for. She now hates her mask Hermione, but unless we do something then it being her only defense...

Heather found word's failing her so just looked at the Grangers and drew several deep breaths. "I had a bad childhood. My relatives were bad. They could have been worse, and I dread to think how I would have handled surviving in that household as a girl. In the storm where I jumped from facing one dangerous problem to the next I never…

"I never lived, and then, I know I have to learn to cope with being a girl now, but this is the best. I willingly accept being a girl if it is the price for this. It isn't a steep price and I am alive and know that prior to this I was not. If I suddenly then lost you. Was back in my old hell…

"If Luna has her hope in us shattered, she might decide life isn't worth it. Even though I am so emotionally compromised on this issue I knowingly vote with no rational thought. I vote we let Luna stay with us.

Hermione pulled Heather into one of her wonderful hugs and then Mr. and Mrs. Granger were holding her too. And multiple comments were said repeated and agreed by all of her new family; comments expressing that she was not a burden, had every right to make requests for anything, was a Granger, and was their daughter / sister. That the overly emotional filled vote was completely rational; that when emotions welled up so strongly they must be voted on.

"I change my vote. Luna stays with us!" Hermione had yelled at one point and there was a 'unanimous' called at some other moment later by someone, after mum and dad also voted to have Luna visit.

"Let's take a break. I am going to make some tea and I need to eat something." Dad said.

"I can cook breakfast." Heather chimed in.

"No you are not doing any chores today Heather." Mum informed her.

"I actually enjoy cooking. It calms me." Heather stated.

"We normally eat a light breakfast of cereals, fruits or toast. If you want to cook for yourself we have eggs in the fridge, but I don't think we have any other cooked breakfast foods." Mum answered.

"I actually wanted to cook for you all." Heather mumbled.

"I won't say no, to letting you cook lunch or dinner for us on another day, but I am not interested in a cooked breakfast, and we will be eating out today both meals due to lots of shopping." Mum added. Dad and Hermione indicated they didn't want a cooked breakfast too.

"I actually only feel like some fruit," Heather added realizing there were no takers for a cooked breakfast.

"So what fruit are you this morning, baby?" Dad jokingly queried.

It was nearly an hour later but surprisingly not even nine am when they were ready to resume the family pow-wow.

"So next topic is Ron, Heather why don't you start with this one?" Her dad asked.

"What do you mean the topic is Ron? What about him, he is my best mate."

"You are starting just fine. Carry on explaining his strengths and weaknesses. Whether he should be here, at chateaux Granger? What you need or expect from him this summer, for the war, etcetera." Mum clarified.

"Unlike Luna that I could easily see taking polyjuice, I don't think Ron will. So for summer there would be the trace issue. He also would rather be with his family. It is more a case of him wanting us with him at the burrow. Though now I am Heather he might not want me there. He wants Harry and doesn't really know how to handle me. It's awkward. Ron is a package deal with his family and before because I wanted family so badly I was willing to accept it on any terms, on their terms. Please don't take this wrong, the Weasleys are awesome, but well I think they need the pow-wow. When I think of the Weasleys method and handling of confrontation and arguments, I think, loud. It seems that the loudest, Mrs. Weasley, can drown out others if she wants to. Smother their voice. Whereas here with your 'pow-wow', even though earlier I felt ganged up on, I have a voice here…

"I think I am lost on this. I have no clue where to go next."

"No, baby you summarized my main concerns and the good points of the Weasleys adequately. We will let everyone else say their thoughts on the package deal of Ron and the Weasleys, and then put it to the vote. So darling you are up," Dad kindly told Heather while giving her arm a squeeze and then looking toward his wife.

"Heather can I say a few words and after I finish you tell me yes or no if it describes Ron?" her mum asked. After receiving a confused nod she continued, "Thoughtful, dependable, loyal, dedicated, lenient, helpful…

"Mum that's not Ron." Heather interjected at the stream of words.

"So which words would you use to describe your 'best mate'?"

"Ron," Heather sighed in exasperation. "Well he is fun to goof off with. He is bit hot headed, but in a good way. Childish, but he can be better. He wants to help most of the time. He is easily jealous, but that is due to feeling insecure with having five older brothers. Also I said the Weasleys are a package deal with Ron, and though the family is loud and stubborn. They are a good family, strong, happy, vibrant, and loving."

Let's analyze what's been said, mum suggested, "Ron is quickly associated into the Weasley package. Would it be safe to say that Ron's primary loyalty and dedication is to his family?"

"I am still trying to wrap my head around a sentence with Ron, loyalty and dedication in it. Having said that, then yes, except for his conflicting jealousy, that is his biggest detraction, Ron would put his family first."

"Describe Hermione for us Heather."

"Scary smart, a little too dependent on book knowledge, caring eyes, warm hugs, helpful, trustworthy, dependable, strong, a good listener, fun when pushed, but wickedly painful if ticked off, someone I can count on and who at the same time will point out if I am making an error, a good sounding board, so she is not just a blind follower or sycophant, useful…

"Describe Luna, now."

"Whimsical, unique, strong but also really fragile, helpless, fun, comedic, sweet, blunt, priceless, exasperating, tiring, can be annoying, stunning, kind, nice, confusing."

"Thanks Heather, now Hermione, do you agree with Heather's choices of words? If not why not, and what am I wanting you to look at and think through?" her mum interrupted her and Heather noted how silent and poised Hermione looked. Her sister was neither quite angry nor upset but she wasn't happy. Had she been rude in describing her sister, had she said something wrong? What had she said? She had blurted out words without filter had she messed up. Would the Grangers' want her to leave?

"No I can't disagree with Heather's words. Wish I like you had broken up with my Weasley during Dumbledore's funeral. As I think we both were in relationships for the wrong reason. Heather, you like me before Hogwarts, you didn't have a friend did you?" Hermione waited for Heather to acquiesce before continuing. "Our relationships with the Weasley youngest two were based on the need to be accepted into the Weasley package because we were jealous of that package. We weren't born into it, but with a relationship we could get assimilated into the Weasley family that was fun and filled with life. Further, by being included in a large family we would never feel alone again.

"Your words for your best mate Ron…

"Well the words and body language that you used to describe me are more suitable for a best mate. Don't feel bad though, my words for Ron are completely inadequate for a boyfriend so I was worse than you. Then look at how you describe Luna. How you lit up describing her, how you blushed. I internally described her with similar if not exactly the same words. We both want to protect her. She can send both of us through a wide range of emotions.

Hermione looked to her parents "You've opened Pandora's box."

"No, princess, your mum used Heather to lead you to Pandora's Box, you chose to open it."

"I think I am missing something here guys." Heather interjected.

"You might be best missing it Heather." Hermione replied.

"No, it is always best to know the monster, than to get hurt from being blindsided later." mum disagreed. "But just because you know, it also doesn't mean we endorse you to do anything about it now. It does mean that Luna will have the study on the main floor changed into her bedroom. Night time the first floor belongs to Luna in the study and us in the master bedroom. When your grandparents arrive they and you two will be on the second floor. If either of you are in the study or Luna is in either of your rooms during the day the door will be open.

Mum carried on after a moment looking at her daughters' faces, a contrast in conflicting emotions. One disappointed and one horrified. "Come on Hermione there is everything still in the air. There is the war. Madam Pomfrey might find a way for Heather to be Harry. Heather might anyway chose to remain Heather. One or all of you could find someone else. The human race would have become extinct if there was only one person that was right. You are running late and fail to miss that one and only acceptable person, because of it. Yeah, there is a species with built in extinction criterion. Your sixteen and seventeen, things change, people change. We are not saying get started on competing against your sister. We are saying be honest with your feelings."

Heather just stared at the Grangers getting paler by the second. She wanted to disagree but didn't know where to start. "Does the tea have a mood altering hallucinogen in it? I would never feel this way and if I did I would know, before you would. You've never even met Luna. Hermione, Ron is your boyfriend; I plan to get back with Ginny…

"Will Ginny accept a relationship with Heather? Tell you what sis, I know Ron would, and you could leave me Luna. Hey you could have your best mate be your true mate."

"Hermione Jean Granger! People are not things to shove off like belongings. Like… like some kind of game of matching pairs. We have got off of the topic which was a vote on should Ron be here and in the war effort with the task Dumbledore gave to Heather. I think he is a danger to us and should be excluded," mum stated, "and we will discuss how to address your uncalled for comments later Hermione."

"I also think Ron brings more problems than solutions and help. I vote against too." Dad quietly told them.

"No Ron," Hermione stated and Heather wandered if she meant that in ways more than the current vote.

They were looking at her again. The old Harry would have bunkered down defended his best mate stubbornly. "Look before we took off on flights of fancy and delusions of dementia I had already said that the cons outweighed the pros. So ignoring the last several minutes I will just say no, and that it was unanimous and what is the next topic?" She felt like such a heel, for not having her best mate's back. She also couldn't forget the image of Luna twirling toward her and kissing her in front of the whole Weasley family.

"Our protections, are they adequate princess?" dad asked Hermione.

"I need more information, part of the gathering topic."

"Baby, are we safe?" dad asked her. She hadn't noticed but dad had used that before, she liked having a nick name. Offering a megawatt smile to her dad, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Baby, not that I am complaining but what is this for?" dad queried.

"For being dad, I hadn't realized. With everything that is going on and all. I guess how you completely accepted me. I hadn't really registered it.

"I don't know anything on wards. I didn't take runes or arithmancy, so nothing to add." Heather wrapped up that she had nothing to add and wrapped up her dad in her arms. She couldn't work out why she felt a need for closeness for security. She never had before.

"Knowing nothing on the wards means we can't trust them and likely even if we do find enough to know we could. We would still need a back-up if they fail." Mum said.

"Grimmauld Place?" Hermione asked looking at Heather who was sitting in dad's lap clinging to his neck like a life-line. This had to be the first time she had ever seen a hug that wasn't initiated by the other person. She should be happy for the emotional growth. She also knew she had jealousy from what Luna saw in Heather spilling over into now worry of losing her dad to her too.

She had wanted a sister, well sibling all her life. She had been so happy to get one right up until a few minutes ago. Now she was worried that she would lose everything she wanted, just moments after realizing what she wanted. She looked down to see her mum was squeezing her hand. The look she gave her told her to not worry, to give Heather what she needed. Biting back tears she hoped her mum was right. "Heather, try to call Kreacher to you."

Heather looked toward her sister. She was positive now she had done something to upset her. She couldn't for the life of her figure what. Hermione had said she agreed with her word choices. "Kreacher!" she forcefully yelled.

"Mudblood, not-mudblood, no there is mudblood, you're not only witch but you call me with the power ungrateful-son's-godson's-halfblood-wizard has, but you're not wizard at all, but you can call Kreacher and you're ungrateful-son's-goddaughter, but he never had a goddaughter. Your magic is all twisted, but I must answer to you as mistress.

"No! Mistress is in painting, can't have two mistresses. I can't lose Mistress, but magic forces me. You are mistress. But, Mistress in painting would never let not-mudblood-halfblood-bloodtraitor-not-wizard-now- witch-creature be mistress, but magic demands.

A strange light seemed to pass across, Kreacher's eyes then the stooped aged elf seemed to become stronger and healthier. Kreacher stood straight and looked at Heather. "Mistress Black, Grimmauld Place is under lockdown because magic thought you were threatened. Only you and who you want can get in. You must let me take you home. I will keep you safe Mistress. No one will ever hurt you again. Please, Mistress, only Grimmauld Place and I can protect you.

"You must punish me for all the times I listened to not-mistress-in-painting and did bad things. Mistress Black, please will you let me take you to Grimmauld Place and then punish me for the bad things, so I can keep Mistress safe?"


	9. Chapter 9

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Bottoming Out

 _Previously_

 _Mistress Black, please will you let me take you to Grimmauld Place and then punish me for the bad things, so I can keep Mistress safe?"_

The bulging eyes of Kreacher stared pleadingly at his Mistress while he pulled on his long floppy ears in nervous worry.

"Kreacher," Hermione said carefully. "Someone could have shared the secret of Grimmauld Place with bad wizards. So it might not be safe for my sister to go to Grimmauld Place."

Kreacher whirled on Hermione. "Kreacher be keeping Mistress Black safe! Grimmauld Place, lockdown! Wards here be not lockdown!"

"Kreacher what are lockdown wards?" Heather asked hoping to calm the agitated house elf.

"Lockdown wards are lockdown wards." Then obviously seeing this didn't seem to help his mistress he tried, "Nothing in, nothing out, only Mistress Black."

"Then how did you get out of Grimmauld Place?"

"Mistress Black called Kreacher." Kreacher replied now looking at Heather as if she was stupid.

"Kreacher are you saying that the wards will only allow Mistress Black and who she expressly states she wants to enter or leave Grimmauld Place to cross them?" Hermione tried.

"Kreacher said that! Wards are lockdown to protect Mistress Black!"

"OK but the bad wizards know where Grimmauld Place is, and could be waiting around the house. When she arrives they could hurt Mistress Black before she enters the house." Hermione pointed out.

Kreacher thought for a moment obviously quite angry that there could be anything unsafe associated with Grimmauld Place and his mistress's safety. "Kreacher pop Mistress Black!"

"What! Now hang on. I am not a balloon." Heather looked nervously at Kreacher.

Kreacher stared exasperatedly at his mistress and said, "pop," vanishing and appearing on the other side of the table. He then proceeded to disappear and re-appear all over the room. "That be popping. Kreacher pop Mistress Black into Grimmauld Place. No bad wizard can hurt Mistress Black."

"And I can do that?" Heather asked incredulously.

"No, Kreacher do popping." Kreacher said.

"You can pop my family straight inside the house and back here too?" Heather asked.

"Mistress Black must say name, then Kreacher pop."

It took some time but eventually they were able to piece together that Kreacher used Heather's magic. So he could pop multiple people as long as Heather was with the group being popped and not low on magic, and stated their exact name plus the one direction, in or out of the ward. Otherwise he could only pop two at most, as long as not too far, before needing to fill up from Heather if she wasn't present to draw from during the trip. Heather was fairly put out with dad's expression that she was 'the Kreacher's energy bunny who could keep popping and popping and popping'. Thankfully her sister and mum put dad in his place for that analogy. She also managed to get Kreacher to accept returning without her currently. On the promise they would visit within a few days, and to not punish himself. However, she would like him to tidy up the house, so it was clean and pest free when she arrived. A glare to both dad, and Hermione ensured they didn't say what she was sure they almost did.

It was then decided that shopping was the most important next topic, and the others would be addressed after they got back home if enough time, otherwise wind up on tomorrow's pow-wow list. A knock at the door though derailed the plans. After getting her wand out, Hermione got up from the breakfast table to answer it. Heather jumped up and covered her sister with her own wand and requested Kreacher to come back.

Bill Weasley and Mad-eye Moody were the arrivals so they relaxed.

"Don't put your wands away lasses! Ask a security question!" Moody demanded.

"Bill what happened when the delivery arrived last night?" Hermione asked after seeing Heather deferring the problem to her.

"Two owls arrived and the delivery man dropped the food, but Mr. Granger caught it. Nice reflexes by the way."

Moody grunted then asked Heather, "With yesterday's accident what did I say would have been a better result?"

"You said that if the hair had been from Ginevra or Luna instead of Hermione it would have been better because they are pure bloods, and all muggleborns are targets of the death eaters." Heather replied. "Can you come in now?"

"You haven't asked a question of me yet lass."

"Fine, why did you need to come into the house yesterday?" Heather requested.

Moody let out a laugh, "I like you lass. Great question, I never came into the house last night." Still laughing they both entered. On seeing Kreacher Moody's wand was drawn and he was back on high alert. "You are the Grimmauld Place house elf, which is under lockdown. What are you doing here elf?"

"Mistress Black called me."

"The lockdown is for you?" Mad-eye's extra eye swung wildly back onto Heather pinning her in place.

Worried about the light glowing from Moody's wand that was pointed straight at her she cursed on having put her wand hand down at her side. "Yes," she said staring at the glowing sickly yellow light at the end of Moody's wand. She could feel the hostile intent of the spell fairly dripping off it and knew that it wasn't a minor hex or jinx, but an extremely nasty curse that was armed and aimed right at her. Could she raise her wand fast enough, was the entrance to the study close enough? If she knocked the vase on the table just to the side of her would it get in the line of fire in time to save her?

Lowering his wand, "You dropped your guard didn't you?" Heather nodded, "At least I could see you realize and think of what you could do about it. It wasn't a nice feeling was it lass, and that's why you need, constant vigilance!" Moody yelled the ending. "Now can you tell me why in the blazin' hell you are still here if you have a house available to you with lockdown wards?"

"Why don't we all sit down? Would you like a cup of coffee?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"All-seeing-one-eye, they not understand lockdown. They not listen here is bad wards. They say Grimmauld Place surrounded by evil wizards. I am good elf. I say I will pop them into Grimmauld Place. They say later after place clean. I can clean place after they safe."

"Wait, you can pop wizards and witches?" Moody asked surprised.

Violently nodding his head, "Good Master Reggie asked me to pop him often." Kreacher let a sob then loudly blew his nose on the grimy rag tied around him.

"Why don't we have the coffee at Grimmauld Place? Then we can talk and I don't have to keep my eye on the guard's outside all the time. Heather you'll need to clearly tell your elf the full name of each of us and that you want us all there inside the wards. The elf can come back for coffee or anything you fancy after we are safe."

"I'll let the guards know." Bill started.

"No, they need the practice and it is a good cover. We will be back after checking over Grimmauld Place.

So minutes later the Granger pow-wow was being conducted in a rather filthy Grimmauld Place kitchen. Mrs. Granger looked rather put out with the new digs and looked at both her daughters, "You both stayed here last year, didn't you try to clean the place?"

"Mistress Black, and mistress's sister good witches, they clean hard but shouldn't. I house elf, I was bad elf. I did not clean. I listened to not-mistress-in-painting and made dirty. Now I clean." Kreacher clicked his fingers at the table that Mrs. Granger had been eyeing with distrust of placing the coffee cup she had popped over holding, down on. What had appeared years of caked on dirt vanished from the table that looked as it had the day it was made. Kreacher then went to the chairs one after the next and Mrs. Granger finally felt willing to sit down.

Mr. Granger pulling out a chair followed in sitting after his wife. The two of them had been stood along with the elf while the others had sat as if they were fine living in squalor. In the background he witnessed the room quickly being cleaned, item by item, from filthy to pristine at the literal flick of a pair of elf fingers. "So lockdown wards. What is the big deal? Why does it sound like they are the holy-grail? How come the wards you happily let us sleep under last night are now today, 'bad wards'?"

Bill looked to Hermione and Heather and murmured, "Holy-grail?"

Heather shrugged, as she hadn't a clue and Hermione sighed, "Muggle thing, take it as meaning the impossible best ward that leaves all other wards inadequate but can't be achieved."

"Actually almost spot on description for lockdown wards. I build and break wards and curses for a living, and I could spend all my life trying to build a lockdown ward and never achieve it. However, an inferior ward thrown together by luck and mismatched warding practices could go lockdown. If it did it wouldn't be a good one, but for a while it would be better than anything I had perfectly built. These wards are ancient; one generation of wizard building upon the next, top of the line, as the Black's always had money and never went cheap on their wards. With these having gone lockdown, well, you have the holy-grail ward.

Bill continued, "We were worried that with Snape being a secret keeper after Dumbledore's death and having shown his true colours, that an heir of the Black family on the death eaters side got into Grimmauld Place and achieved the lockdown wards. That meant they would have access to the elf and any of our secrets the elf had overheard. Obviously now we know that it was due to the portrait of Sirius's mum that caused the elf to be on their side. Now not only do we have lockdown wards but also the elf is firmly on your side Heather, so we don't have that security breach plus answers on how Sirius's mum did it."

Mr. Granger interrupted Bill, "Can you go back to lockdown wards and why the ones you built at our house are bad ones."

"Sure just got side tracked solving a puzzle. Fine, I said I could only get temporary wards up and we would need money to put up better ones. If I had a few months to get top of the line wards up then I would only have to buy the raw materials that would be several hundred galleons. That cost is if I couldn't wait for materials. If I could wait for when there was a large supply it would be still around a couple of hundred. You needed wards up in hours that would mean a team of warders and they wouldn't be pro-bono. Further, you would be charged the sky for the materials, as you obviously couldn't wait for availability. Now temporary wards are obviously better than nothing but consider them the lowest wards, or as your elf nicely labeled them, bad wards.

"Next are poorly made permanent wards. This type of ward is the cobbled together set, or inferior schemes, of wards with known weaknesses. Or possibly wards with weaknesses that can be found easily and exploited. These are the prevalent wards found in our world because most wizards splash all they have for the best materials they can afford, but then try to build their own wards with little to no experience.

"After that are the good wards like we have at the Burrow. Carefully developed over several years, they are well built, but I didn't use the most expensive materials. So better quality of material would be a severe upgrade on the wards and that would enable them to then be in the third best tier. Wards in the third highest tier are known as wards of top quality or also top of the line wards. The type I hoped to work a way out in installing somehow around your house later, if I could work out the financing issue."

"How were you planning on financing it?" Mrs. Granger asked, considering the costs sound prohibitive.

"Though, I had said Heather likely couldn't access her vault until twenty-five. My first hope was finding an ally able and willing to foot the cost. Next was getting the goblins to agree that due to the war installing the best wards were a smart investment. Failing that was to have them or a secondary investor agree that the Potter's vaults were good to pay the cost plus interest eight years from now.

"Now carrying on with the types of wards, above top quality wards are the wards of ancient estates. Like the Black wards were until last night's upgrade. This is the normally achievable, best grade of ward. Multiple generations of wizards have expanded upon a solid foundation with the best materials to create one of a kind unique schemes that take top curse and ward breakers potentially days to take down. They have lots of nasty lethal traps built in the most obscure places to take out the unwary curse breaker. They also have established weight in years so sort of have their own built in magic awareness allowing them sometimes to do things no one that made them, planned them to do. Then again others have argued it was something built in previously, but forgotten to the current thoughts on the ward scheme. I can tell you it is the biggest worry in my career of pulling down wards, and most people in my field believe in the first interpretation of how the odd things happen.

"Then we have the lockdown ward that can be born from any of the previous wards and is truly believed born of magical intent as they have never been built. They are always formed when an owner of a house with wards or the heir of the house with wards is threatened enough for something to trigger them. It is highly believed that magic itself decides what it thinks should trigger them. Lockdown wards having triggered can stay active for several generations. At a minimum they stay active until the death of the one causing them to trigger.

"The criteria needed to trigger is where it gets tricky discussing the how of lockdown wards, because it has been completely different threats that have caused them to go lockdown. Further, similar events have not triggered others that were expected would be triggered."

"So during the last war several ward schemes would go lockdown?" Hermione queried wondering why it wasn't mentioned in the details of the war.

"No, a single wizard, no matter how powerful is usually not enough for magic to cause wards to go lockdown. In fact in magical Britain it has been nearly two hundred years since the last set of lockdown wards were active."

"But he killed so many and had an army of death eaters behind him."

"To magic he was an upstart with follows. Lockdowns don't form due to duels and feuds, which is how it would consider you-know-who. It would think if he was targeting you then you should duel and the best wizard, or witch win. If he amasses follows then so should you. Nope, now knowing the lockdown is for you Heather, except for the timing of it going lockdown last night, verses yesterday morning or the early evening. When I heard my mother tore into you, I would think it was due to the polyjuice accident.

"How do you reach that conclusion? I willingly drank the polyjuice." Heather replied.

"Heather, the wizard society is patriarchal. Wizards have significantly more legal power than witches. Regardless to how magically or intellectually powerful a witch is she will have a harder time. Being partially a creature removes even more legal power and rights from you. Magic could consider the accident as an attack on you by one of your friends, an attack that caused you to become substantially weaker within the whole of magic society than before. Before you jump in that you don't think of it as an attack from Hermione. I was saying magic could interpret it that way.

"Then I heard about what my mother did at the station. I also know Ginny and Ron and I could easily see them having lashed out at you in some way on the train trip down. Magic could consider that three more attacks from friends or parents of friends occurring. When you add that Ginny and my dad owe you a life debt, you know that magic would sit up and pay attention. My setting up temporary wards at the Grangers would not offset those attacks by a debtor. Next your current situation that you-know-who is after you, and you haven't had parents since fifteen months old because of the prior direct targeting from him. Another attack would be that your magical guardian Dumbledore is now dead and your status unclear with a potentially overrun ministry. Even with apparently your new guardians now being non-magical, and coming about indirectly from the first attack. Magic could consider it an attempt of extorting money from you."

"Would the potential marriage contract from Neville's grandmother last night be an attack too?" Heather's mum chimed in.

"What marriage contract?" demanded Moody.

"Oh the letters last night that startled the delivery driver were from Neville and Luna." Hermione answered. "Neville told us that his grandmother wanted to invite Heather to Neville's birthday party and wanted to know her last name. He warned us that he thought his grandmother wanted to set up a marriage contract between himself and Heather."

"Ah, and that is when the lockdown approximately happened. So I was right that it was the polyjuice and its knock on events that caused the lockdown to occur. It just took a few more events that I had not known of." Bill stated, "What did Luna's letter say? Could her letter also be construed an attack too?"

"No she didn't attack me." Heather quickly retaliated. "She wanted to visit Hermione and me this summer."

"So why didn't your temporary wards at our house go lockdown too?" Mr. Granger asked helping his daughter in covering the private parts of Luna's letter she obviously wanted hid.

"That I can't answer, I will say I am glad that it was these that did and not the others. I could hazard that these are her wards while the one's at the Granger house are the families, and Heather has spent far more time here than at your house, but that is guesswork.

"I am also happy on the other side effect of the polyjuice accident on Heather. I mean namely the effect removing the portrait's influence over the house elf. We could never work out how Sirius's mum did it. Now it seems so obvious, the loophole suddenly blatantly visible that Sirius's mum had used to maintain control of the house elf. Something she shouldn't have been able to. With her younger son having been killed and Sirius being the hound he was and then in prison she was fairly confident Sirius wouldn't get into a committed relationship and thus there would be no Mistress Black to usurp her power. A sneaky method that members of a patriarchal society are more blinkered to miss. It is also ironic that an espouser of the hardliners that are more conservative in restricting witches powers should come up with it." Bill Weasley added.

The kitchen the group was now sitting in, was spotless and looked like it had just been built. Sure there were no electrical appliances on the countertops and the oven looked like a brand new perfect replica of something designed at least a couple of hundred years ago. Kreature had obviously left the room to clean another in the house.

"Heather I would like to verify the main ward stone has no cracks or damage and the system is not in need of any repair if you would allow me too. Note that as house Weasley owes you two life debts, I am absolutely no threat to you or your ward scheme." Bill stated and looked at Heather calmly. Then seeing her confusion added. "I am not about to poke around lockdown wards without the person they are locked down on completely aware of what I want to do, and totally understanding that I am not a threat to them. I need to do that before going anywhere near the control of wards that could kill me faster than I blink."

"Sure, do you need me to do anything?" Heather asked.

"If you would come with me, Heather it would be best. I will teach you about them and how to do maintenance on them at the same time as we check them." Bill asked getting up and offering his arm to help Heather get up too.

As Hermione, jumped up eyes eager in learning something new, Moody shot her down. "I want to discuss how you all plan to protect Heather from marriage contracts. I want you to stay here. Heather can show you what she learnt later, and it will show Bill how much Heather paid attention to him." Moody caused both witches to be upset for differing reasons.

For all the plan at the start of the day had been to eat out for lunch, they ended up eating in the newly cleaned kitchen instead. Kreacher rustled together a nice lunch using supplies from the Granger house. Luckily all topics aside clothing, magical supplies, the ministry and the war, were now covered. Unluckily for Heather it was clothing that was chosen to be the item to resolve in the afternoon. The less that was thought on the rest of the day the better as far as Heather was concerned. Today she had been on the other side of having to allow someone else to pay, and for all how awkward that was. It was nothing to other parts of the shopping trip. The dinner was a nice oasis of recovery from embarrassing hell. At least Bill or worse yet Moody hadn't demanded to accompany them on the trip. They had left right after lunch before finding out the Granger's were planning to go shopping next.

* * *

It was gone nine in the evening when they finally got back to Grimmauld Place and after everyone helped getting all of Heather's new clothes into the master bedroom, she was ready to just collapse on the bed and sleep for a week. Heather forced herself to use the bathroom and change knickers and get into a top, short enough that her tail was free to comfortably exit. It was a pastel, powder, blue lacy top, with frills to both sides of a line of three front buttons that were only for show. Both the bottom edge that was scooped and flared out, at navel and shorter length, and the loose v-neckline edge, providing relaxed comfort for sleeping, had a half inch wide satin trim that she loved feeling brushing against her skin. She liked it and the first of the two words of its name was a name she now liked because her dad had given it to her. She smiled as she closed her eyes to finally get some sleep.

Kreacher had got both of the two main living floors cleaned while they were out. He had got the master suite and Hermione's bedroom cleaned on the fourth floor, and one of the guest suites cleaned for her parents on the third. It was impressive how much he had achieved. When Kreacher had said it was because Mistress Black has so much magic available for him to use, in answer to how he got so much cleaned, she could just see the image her dad had forced on her this morning. She was too tired to even glare let alone do anything to prevent someone from saying anything, so was thankful no one did.

She was at the pleasant almost sleeping state where the mind wanders through memories in a haphazard fashion, when Hermione slipped into the room.

"You awake?"

"No."

"Budge over I want to talk."

"Your parents…

"Our parents are only worried about us losing our innocence to Luna." Hermione stated while getting into bed beside her.

"Your feet are cold."

"Then stop moving your legs away so I can warm them up on you. I like your warm furry legs. Oh, you're purring." Hermione moved her head closer to Heather's neck. "I'd forgotten about doing that when I slept."

"Are you here to talk or seduce me?"

"Can't I do both?"

"Hermione I am really tired and you know we will be having another early morning pow-wow tomorrow."

"I want to talk, and we likely won't get time tomorrow. Heather I was bitchy when I tried to hand Ron off to you and I am sorry, and if Luna chooses you I will still love you. Also magic is right, by me coming up with the whole polyjuice thing, I unknowingly attacked you."

After a few minutes had passed she added, "Heather, this is where you say something."

"I'm thinking."

"No you're not, your sleeping. I am being serious here."

"No you're not, Sirius was my godfather. We're actually sleeping where he last slept"

"Well there is a mood killer."

"Should I be worried you were in the mood?"

"So help me Heather I will tickle you. Did you hear what I said, and I mean my apology or must I repeat myself?"

"Hermione no matter what does or doesn't happen with Luna, I like having a big sister. I'm not losing you. I know that you will demand we talk through anything that risks us. Obviously when I want to sleep, but I want hold it against you or love you less for you being you. Further, I don't hold any of this as your fault. I haven't really had any time to decompress, but my gut feeling is that it is all for the better. So many good things have come of it, starting with escaping 'Duskaban'.

"Hermione, Ron was my first friend but you were not only my second friend, but also my first female friend, and then my first alive family member. Hermione you are my sister. Sure my uncle, aunt and cousin were relatives I had the displeasure of living with, but they never were family. You are, and because of you I have mum and dad. I also seem to have enough clothes to get from here to the moon and back. Not to mention the number of pairs of shoes that passed ludicrous while you and mum kept on shopping.

"No argument is ever going to be worth losing you." Turning her head she saw Hermione's open eyes staring at her, her lips were right there, mere centimeters from hers.

"I thought I was the smart one, Heather?"

"Identical twins," She stuck her tongue out to tease before recalling how close they were. She could feel Hermione's breath exhaling on her tongue. If either moved a merest jot she would be licking Hermione's lips. Blushing while her heart rate sped up she swiftly sucked her tongue back in then smiled cheekily as if it was her plan all along to have done what she accidently did.

Hermione was verifying if what nearly happened had. She had been a deer in the headlights of Heather's brown eyes, unable to move while her mirrored self had suddenly done something she would never have expected. What would she have done if they had touched? Hitting Heather's shoulder she called out to her, "Prat, that wasn't funny."

"I thought it was funny. You nearly went cross-eyed. Anyway, is there something else we must talk about right now, or can I go to sleep, please?" Heather actually puffed out her lower lip and fluttered her eyes at her.

"No; nothing else we must talk about right this second, except, do you mind if I stay with you, I don't want to sleep alone here. I have never been completely comfortable in this house and just because it is spotlessly clean now, doesn't erase prior memories of doxies attacking from the curtains. Can I just lie here; and maybe hug you tonight?"

"I would like that, but I really think we should get some sleep. I was drifting off to sleep just before you arrived."

"Best friends no matter what?"

"We'll always be best friends." Heather said and wrapped Hermione into a hug to let her know she really meant it.

Clinging to each other they fell to sleep.

Several hours later as the dawn's light began to pry its way in around the edges of the thick curtains. Hermione began to rouse. She heard the stairs creek and figured dad was coming to get them up for the early morning pow-wow but she was far too comfortable to completely awaken and get up to greet him. She hoped it would take him a while to recall which room she had been set up to sleep in.

"Is there something you two need to tell me?"

Hermione was startled awake at the unusual morning greeting and saw her dad looking down at her. She then noticed that Heather's baby doll top was bunched up thanks to her arm that had found its way up Heather's front while sleeping, and where her hand rested cupping the lower part of Heather's chest. Heather was clinging tightly to her, deep asleep one arm beneath and around her waist. While the other, passing over her had fallen a bit lower than her waist. It tightly squeezed her cheek.

Extricating herself from Heather, by first freeing her tightly clamped buttock from said clamp, she got out of bed and pulled the fallen off cover over Heather. "I came in last night to just talk and must have fallen asleep."

Her dad raised an eyebrow, "Do I need to get Kreature to clean out a bedroom in the attic?"

"Dad we just talked, get your mind out of the gutter."

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"Which is why I was in here last night talking with Heather, a lot has happened over the last two days. We needed to clear the air. Give me a few minutes and I'll be downstairs."

"Wake-up Heather before you come down. You sure she is a morning person? She is more out of it than mum."

"I am starting to think mum is right on the whole this body might not be the morning person the other body was. Otherwise due to her magic which was jumpstarting our temporary wards, these lockdown wards and a house elf with spring cleaning fever, even her bottomless battery has to, well… bottom out eventually."

Yawning and noticing her dad's raised eyebrow on her word choice she angrily waved him away and headed off to her room letting her dad head downstairs. If they went shopping today she needed to get an alarm clock. Blushing at that random thought, she batted it away too. This wasn't going to be repeated. They had just needed to talk and she'd never slept in Grimmauld Place without another sharing her room. Admittedly the sharing of a room had involved twin beds verses last night's sharing of a bed, and it had been a wonderful night's sleep. Hermione blushed recalling Heather's tongue millimeters from her lips.

Having used the bathroom she got dressed. Her bed didn't need making as she hadn't slept in it so she was quickly ready. Crossing the landing she wondered should she knock on her sister's bedroom door. Deciding it had taken far too long last time she just went and entered. Gently she shook Heather's shoulder. "Dad wants us up, Heather can you wake-up?" Having watched her sister stumble into the bathroom she decided she should make Heather's bed before heading downstairs.


	10. Chapter 10

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Catch a Falling Star

Madam Longbottom was enjoying an early coffee break with Belinda Edgecombe. She didn't really like the woman, She'd been a Hufflepuff, enough said. Belinda though had a niece that worked in the floo office of the ministry, whom was a source of current information and the occasional scandal. She had obviously decided that something was important enough to contact her aunt at the beginning of her shift. Obviously Belinda had agreed because she had begged to come over to Longbottom Manor for an early cup of coffee. She had been hyping the information, hopefully she would actually say what it was and Augusta could decide if it was worth knowing or a fuss about hot air.

"Augusta it is amazing! Not happened in centuries. The Black wards have gone on lockdown." Belinda exclaimed.

Augusta nearly choked on her last sip of coffee. She was positive that Belinda had timed it that way. She was a spiteful witch. Probably still hung on what happened sixth year with Marcus, Belinda should thank her for that, obviously not good material. Or at least have forgotten it by now. She had. This was huge news especially with the war starting up again. However, Belinda had started prattling again and Augusta's thoughts were derailed.

"The Lockdown wards are not the only thing though. You'll never guess. Narcissa Malfoy nee Black came to the ministry, strode into an ongoing wizengamot session that was discussing the very lockdown, and began demanding to know which upstart was trying to claim the ancestral home of Black from her.

"She was all poised to prove how her claim was superior to Potter's who she thought was under the lockdown wards and stolen her property. The fuss resulted in arguing. People openly accused her of being in you-know-who's service. Of her son, Draco, being the murderer of Dumbledore.

"Then it came out that Potter wasn't the one that the lockdown wards had gone up over. It seems that Sirius Black had a bastard. It shouldn't be so surprising. More surprising is that he only has one."

"How did they determine that?" Augusta queried.

"Narcissa confirmed it while losing a chunk of her magic. They say she is just above a squib now. She can't cast more than six to seven simple charms a day or risks magical exhaustion. She was so shocked and it was really painful. Can you not imagine it, barging in on the deliberations and bold as brass she demanded on magic that as she was a Black on birth, had not been convicted of any crime, had not been evicted from the family, and aside her two older sisters was the closest to Prima Black and deserving of heirship of Black.

"Magic disagreed and she was punished. The only two possibilities thought of her claim failing are known to be dead, Regulus and Sirius Black. Regulus was an upright young lad that was killed in the first war and would never had been the cause for a bastard to be born. Sirius however, was a complete scoundrel, and thus his child even if a bastard would be the source of a closer claim for Prima Black. It couldn't be Potter that caused the lockdown wards as his closest tie to the family is through his grandmother Dorea Potter nee Black and Narcissa would not have lost her challenge.

"To think the bastard get of one of You-Know-Who's top lieutenants would be the next best attack after Potter's that gave us a reprieve from the horrors for a few years. Could you imagine if he and his death eaters had access to Black Manor under lockdown wards? Now we don't know if it might not have been a good thing for the only wizard to escape from Azkaban, to escape. The bastard might not have been conceived if he hadn't escaped."

"Is it thought that Narcissa was there on you-know-who's orders to try to gain control of lockdown wards?" Augusta asked.

"That and get hold of Potter. You-know-who obviously thought that he was hiding there. Also the Blacks' were well off so there would be the fortune to try to get control of as well." Belinda replied. "We are just lucky that Sirius was killed a year ago when all those death eaters were caught at the ministry. Your grandson was there, wasn't here with Potter?

Belinda carried on not waiting for an answer. "Just think if Sirius was still alive then you-know-who would have access to the Black fortune and the lockdown wards. Though they might not have gone lockdown…

"Sirius Black was on our and Harry Potter's side." Neville said having heard enough attacks on his best friend's godfather. "He was never given a trial and wasn't the traitor, Harry told me."

"Oh posh boy, this happened when you both were babies. We had all the evidence. Everyone knew he was the Potter's secret keeper and he was perfectly healthy murdering that poor Pettigrew boy. He must have willingly given the secret to you-know-who and of course we weren't giving a Black a trial. He would have got off." Belinda informed Neville.

Madam Longbottom continued explaining. "Neville, there has not been a single black convicted for a crime ever. When we tried Lestrange for what she did to my son, your parents and she was gloating and letting everyone know she did it. The only argument the defense and prosecution fought over was allowing 'nee Black' in the formal charge against the accused. Thankfully we won. We were not risking seeing if that would be enough to get her an acquittal.

"Weird things occurred in every trial against a Black. The evidence vanished; a witness went missing or changed their testimony. Procedural mistakes would cause key points to be overturned. So there is no conspiracy. We deliberately didn't give him a trial because he would have got off. Even then he managed to escape, the only person to ever escape from Azkaban."

"Your grandmother is right, Neville. Anyway I really need to get going. Thank you for the coffee Augusta."

After Belinda had left Madam Longbottom turned back to Neville. "You still think Sirius is on Potter's side even after all we said?"

"I know grandmother; I was there at the ministry with Sirius fighting on our side. I saw Bellatrix curse him into the veil of death in the death chamber. I've been told by Harry that Pettigrew was both the secret keeper and the traitor. He framed Sirius with the explosion that killed twelve muggles and is still alive. He did the ritual that brought you-know-who back using Harry's blood." Neville said. "During the fight I clearly saw Sirius defending Harry."

* * *

Heather and Hermione returned from Diagon alley via house elf travel with the books on wards, Bill Weasley had recommended to them yesterday, to get. A few defense books, some potion ingredients, pet supplies for both Crookshanks and Hedwig, a container of hairs plucked from a female half-kneazle in the magical menagerie store, a few groceries and for reasons Hermione refused to elaborate and just blushed furiously, one alarm clock. The groceries and clockwork alarm clock had actually been bought from muggle London at the start of their errand.

Whilst shopping Hermione had shared with Heather a couple of the things Moody had discussed the other day while she was learning how to check and maintain the Black wards. The first explained the whole reason for fearing saying Voldemort's name and the use of you-know-who. When she told Heather they both cursed Dumbledore's stupidity in encouraging Voldemort's name to be used. It would be nice if their other friend who grew up the in the magical world had thought to mention the ability of the taboo spell too. Needless to say they now had to unlearn saying a name that had become habit.

The second thing discussed was that Moody agreed completely with Hermione's ideas of muddying the name. He apparently had several names he was using for Heather. He had believed that though having people think of a name to use that no one else knew. Multiple was even better than just one name. Heather thankful for what he volunteered to do for her hoped his extra effort was beneficial and worth it.

Heather organized their goods into two areas. One had their groceries and the other was all their other purchases. While Hermione took their purchases upstairs Heather headed to the kitchen with the groceries to get started on lunch and prep work for dinner. During this morning's family meeting they had determined they would notify their grandparents that the two of them didn't need to drive. Stating they had a surprise treat to get them to the Granger family that just needed them packed and ready to leave. They of course would surprise them in the morning that their grandparents had intended to leave, and inform them of magic and 'pop' them on house elf airlines to Grimmauld Place.

They intended to leave the ministry alone and hope it did likewise and planned to go into the war effort discussion after dinner as Luna would be arriving this evening. This was why most of Heather's attention was on making that meal, lunch was just a light affair too. She was pouring milk into the saucepan on a low flame that contained sugar, cocoa and cornstarch in it while using her wand in the other hand to cause the mixture to stir together, when mum arrived and looked over her shoulder.

"That seems a lot of sugar for a light lunch?"

"It is for dinner." Heather replied.

"Normally we eat lunch before dinner. What is it anyway? I though you said you were cooking herb crusted halibut for dinner? I don't think I want that sugary chocolate gravy on it."

"I am preparing this first as it needs to set and cool in the fridge, where it will go when I have finished cooking and added a couple more ingredients to it. I will have plenty of time to get our light lunch thrown together afterward. When this is finished it will not be going on the main course, it will be dessert, chocolate pudding to be exact."

"Oh ho Heather, care to explain your choice of desserts for tonight's dinner?" Hermione asked arriving in the kitchen.

"I felt it would go well after the savory fish." Heather flippantly replied while using her wand to turn on the burner beneath the smaller sauce pan that had pats of butter in it and adjusted the flame to allow the butter to quickly melt but not burn. She then resumed using her wand to stir the contents of the main saucepan.

"So it has nothing to do with Luna's favorite food being pudding? Also there seems to be rather a lot for the five of us." Hermione sweetly asked while Heather blushed, and their mum smiled.

"It takes as much effort to make sixteen servings as four. It will keep in the fridge for another day," then mumbled, "if not eaten." To quickly cover the aside she attacked politely, "Hermione can you add eight teaspoons of vanilla extract onto the melting butter please, you may as well be useful if you're in my kitchen."

"Play nice girls. I am sure Luna would love to hear you made her chocolate pudding, together." Mum said, while noting that Hermione did measure the extract into the nearly melted butter.

Happy with the consistency of the main saucepan, Heather glanced over to the other and wafted her wand at it so it mixed too and the last of the butter melted. She then lifted the smaller pan while using her wand to turn off its now unneeded flame and poured it into the thickening chocolate mixture in the larger pan still being heated, allowing the flavored liquid butter, to fold in.

She left it self-stirring under minimal heat and rinsed out the smaller sauce pan and left it to soak in the sink. Having rinsed her hands she laid out sixteen bowls on the counter beside the oven and when she was happy with the mixture, turned off this burner too.

"That's it?" Hermione asked.

"Yes simple pudding is really easy to make. You can add complexity though so it can become significantly harder in gradual increments. So it is a good way to learn how to cook from simple through difficult skill level, while providing a great reward for passing the latest test. Do you want to share it between the bowls?"

With Hermione occupied she removed the lettuce she had washed earlier form the fridge and started making the salad for the four of them for lunch.

"So what is that then?" Mum asked looking at the third untouched pan with water covering its contents on one of the rear unlit burners. "You do know that it isn't cooking?"

"Yes it is soaking. I'll change the water and start cooking the lentils after we finish lunch." Heather stated while her wand was conducting a chopping symphony over five cutting boards. On one she was shredding lettuce, the next julienned carrots. The third board had a knife slicing tomatoes, fourth chopped walnuts, and the fifth cut mushrooms. Beside the boards three different cheeses were rubbing up against three grates above a bowl.

Her mum just looked at the spectacle. "It feels like you're cheating. When you said cooking calms you I imagined all the work and thought how could you find that calming? But this, I think it should be called something else."

"This is my first time doing it with magic. I find both ways calming. With our stove I have to use magic as there are no controls or igniters for the hobs. I guess you could use a match but you need magic to turn the gas on and the spell turns it on and lights it at the same time. I will say that I will probably always use magic to wash-up afterward. I have no interest in doing that the normal way." Heather waved her wand again with incantation and the prepped salad ingredients were tossed together into the serving bowl.

"So the lentils, are they the only vegetable?"

No tonight's dinner,for vegetables, we will have lightly steamed asparagus, fresh uncooked julienned tri-colour bell-peppers, and these lentils will be added to wild rice and sultanas in a two to five to one ratio. The vegetables will be served beside the herb crusted halibut. That is quickly pan-seared halibut with a light herb breading sprinkled on the top then browned under the broiler to make the herb crust. It will come with a paprika and cracked white peppercorn white sauce. I plan to not put sugar in the white sauce as we have adequate in the chocolate pudding unless you all have a sweet tooth. White sauce can be made either way but with a little sugar is more prevalent. Without the spices and crushed cloves of shallots it would be too bland to skip the sugar. Of course because of the paprika it will be orange but the base is a simple white sauce."

Heather turned to look at Hermione and her mum staring at her. "You said you had no food allergies or real dislikes, is there something I should change? Other than the lentils I haven't started on anything for dinner. Well I have washed the asparagus and bell peppers but they can stay in the fridge washed to be used another day. Have I made a mistake?" Heather babbled in concern.

"No Heather, the menu for dinner sounds divine. How often did you want to cook?" Her mum asked.

"She can't cook to often mum, we'll get fat." Hermione interjected. "I thought you said something was devilled for dinner tonight is that another name for the meal."

"No, that is the simple appetizer, cracked black peppercorn devilled crabmeat is on alternate square wafers. A herbed cream and ricotta cheese blend is spread on the others to make a checkerboard plate with a light drizzled spicy orange duck sauce on them."

"Heather I think we need to discuss the meaning of the word simple." Her mum declared. "How do you plan to get this already for dinner?"

Heather stuck her tongue out and grinned, "Magic!"

"Is lunch ready?" Dad asked entering Grimmauld Place kitchen.

* * *

Madam Longbottom was sitting in Minerva McGonagall's living room enjoying a second cup of coffee. She had passed pleasant small talk with Minerva while thinking through her puzzle. First the lockdown wards and discovery of a bastard child from Sirius. Next that Sirius was innocent and lastly the unknown witch Heather that was known by Hermione had formal training but no magical school attended. If Minerva knew Sirius was innocent things would make sense.

"We are going to have another war now because Pettigrew caused you-know-who to return." Madam Augusta pulled the conversation from trivial things.

"Yes and Fudge wasted a whole year failing to listen to Dumbledore that he was back. Pettigrew followed Potter around during their school years like a little puppy. He was the most cunning though, had all of us fooled. To think we thought Sirius was the traitor causing James and Lily to be killed. Yet all along it had been Pettigrew." Minerva reminisced.

Augusta had to stop herself from crowing. It all made perfect sense, the puzzle was as she had guessed. Minerva had known and arranged teaching the illegitimate daughter of Sirius as he was a fugitive. She debated again trying to get everything she need but decided to get it in two pieces. The first was a legitimate request and it wasn't worth the gamble to ask for it all together and get nothing. Of course this way she gambled that she might end up with partial results where she could have got everything if she was less conservative.

"It must be difficult for a witch to grow up without their complete family. No monogrammed 'Witches Helping Guide' from a close relative that you can lean on in your teenage years." Augusta waxed poignantly.

Minerva confused, tried to work out what Augusta was talking about.

"The loss of Sirius must have been devastating. If I knew her middle initial I would be honored to provide the book. I am sure no one has given one to Heather Black."

Minerva was swept into the emotion. Augusta must have been informed about Harry; she automatically thought it would be a good idea as he would need to be a teenage witch for this next year when such a book was beneficial and she didn't have one. Without thinking she had offered the initial 'J' as she thought of Harry's actual name then suddenly remembered Moody mentioning last night something about ensuring Heather's name was not known or discussed. "Augusta I think you should leave now." She leveled a fierce glare toward Madam Longbottom. Letting her know she wouldn't be getting the actual name.

* * *

After eating lunch during which the family ribbed Heather a little on the proposed dinner menu, Heather got started on the appetizer. She found Kreacher had washed up all the prep tools that she had left soaking in the sink and was very happy with him. As she added the orange peel and zest into the mixture of old-fashioned-thick-cut marmalade from the Granger's pantry and the apricot preserves she'd purchased, she thought of the upcoming dinner and Luna.

In a bit less than a couple of hours Hermione, mum and herself would take the house elf express to the rookery and would return with Luna and her things. However, while she was getting the last prep done the two of them were going to run about London, Kreacher returning for fill ups of Heather's magic as needed. Dad thankfully just wanted to stay home and read or they would have had to get the house elf to double pop to get the three of them out without Heather. The potential glaring bottle neck had them at lunch discussing if they could also get Dobby into Grimmauld Place. Heather was pleasantly surprised with Hermione's new take on house elves considering her prior stance. She didn't point it out just quietly kept it to herself how glad she was that it wasn't an issue, and hoped it would remain that way.

She also was getting nervous the closer it came time for Luna to arrive. Heather was glad she had the plans for dinner to keep her occupied. She would have been far more nervous otherwise. She added cayenne, chili powder, white rice vinegar and soy sauce. Used magic to mince a couple of cloves of garlicand after grating some ginger from the root, finished up the spicy orange duck sauce and placed that into the fridge.

Humming happily and relaxing into the remainder of things to prep, and looking forward to Luna's and her families' enjoyment of the meal, it made her feel needed, a member of the family, it gave her acceptance. She was no longer alone. Aside lunch which was too simple, thus didn't really count, this was the first meal she was cooking for family. Imagining Hermione and Luna thanking her, after eating the meal she made nearly from scratch made her feel good. She had cheated on the preserves and marmalade, but it was not like she had a couple of days to cook those first. Thinking of the looks on their faces and she was blushing, memories of last night with Hermione, and two days ago in the waiting room of Kings Cross station.

No, it was just feelings of strong friendship. Hermione had become her best friend, and Luna could too. The comments that her mum and Hermione had made were just muddying the water and made her think things she otherwise wouldn't. Using her wand she beat the plain cream, and ricotta cheeses together, venting her frustration, then folded in the chosen herbs when it had been beaten spreadable.

"We're leaving we will be back shortly," her mum stated, giving her a quick hug. "Don't work too hard. You can ask your dad for help he is just reading a book in the drawing room."

"Thanks I am having fun, only two more things to do and then I have two hours of almost nothing to do in the kitchen.I was thinking I'll take shower and change." She then used her wand over two containers, of black and white peppercorns, crushing the first coarsely and grinding the second slightly finer.

"That is so cheating!" Mum said.

Heather stuck her tongue out at her, while adding crabmeat to the coarsely crushed black peppercorn container using wand instead of spoon. "It does save time."

Less than half an hour later and everything was prepped for all three courses of dinner and she was enjoying a hot shower. She had not reset the glamour so she could get her fur completely cleaned. She figured it must have been because the half-kneazle was Crookshanks but she didn't have the lower set of teats around her navel that a cat would his hair had provided fur, ears, tail and was preventing her from turning back. Everything else Heather, came from Hermione. Getting out and cleaning all the clumps of hair that were all over the cubicle, she then used a hair dryer and soft brush to get all the water out of her fur.

Allowing her current desires to rule, and knowing the house empty aside Kreacher and her dad reading two floors below, she left the towels hung up and strutted across the landing to Hermione's room, bare except for a pair of knickers and her fur. Within Hermione's wardrobe was the low backed dress she had worn momentarily on the Hogwarts Express trip home. Well she could always apologize if her sister didn't want her wearing it.

* * *

Augusta looked at the contract form. She lost her son in the first war, but if she acted fast could protect her grandson behind lockdown wards during the second. Well time to see if her guess work was right. Using the blood quill she wrote in the full name she believed the witch to be. Would her guess for middle name be correct? There had been only one choice for a star or constellation starting with 'J', the name for a star within the Scorpius constellation. Likely meaning if that is her middle name that she was born during that zodiac sign. If it was right she would purchase the book, monogrammed 'H. J. B.' along with a chain necklace with a topaz stone, to give as gifts with the contract. Should Heather accept the gifts she would also be accepting the contract and her grandson would be safe.

The contract didn't burn up. The name written in Augusta's blood briefly flared and turned silver. Magic accepted that she had the name right. It was as she guessed, 'Heather Jabbah Black'.


	11. Chapter 11

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Much ado about… something?

 _Previously_

 _Allowing her current desires to rule, and knowing the house empty aside Kreacher and her dad reading two floors below, she left the towels hung up and strutted across the landing to Hermione's room, bare except for a pair of knickers and her fur. Within Hermione's wardrobe was the low backed dress she had worn momentarily on the Hogwarts Express trip home. Well she could always apologize if her sister didn't want her wearing it._

* * *

With fur covering her modesty that was not veiled by the dress it wasn't too daring and her orange marmalade fur accented the black with white piping extreme low backed dress. Looking in her floor length mirror, having returned to her room, she waved her tail and experimented facial expressions. Turned her back to the mirror twisted her head to look over her shoulder and see how she looked from the rear.

She was still admiring herself in the mirror when she heard Hermione call up the stairwell that they were back and was she coming down to the drawing room, where they all were? "Hermione, I borrowed one of your dresses, I hope you don't mind." Heather called out while heading downstairs the flight between fourth and third floors.

"This is the same girl, whom last night was declaring she had enough clothes to reach the moon and back." Hermione teased from the second floor below.

"I don't have one like this, and I suddenly thought if I didn't apply the glamour charm, it is not quite so daring." Heather responded finally coming into view of Hermione as she started down the flight of stairs from the third floor.

"Oh, my, god! Heather, well… just… wow…

"I'm jealous you chose to wear that for Luna. Why didn't you wear it for me? It's my freaking dress!"

Standing now on the same floor Heather replied. "I am wearing this for you, my best friend, also my hopefully to be other best friend Luna and myself. Well if you let me keep it on that is."

"So I could demand you come to my room and take it off?" Hermione asked wondering where the words came from the second after she said them. She then was mortified as she realized her mum had arrived to see what the fuss was about and obviously heard what she said.

Mrs. Granger just stopped herself from saying the first thing she thought, and slowly drew a breath in while looking at her two daughters. Well she hadn't seen this caveat to the burgeoning emotions her twins had been realizing for the same girl. She should have, and must have deliberately been ignoring this possibility. It also now made Dan's odd comment to her earlier this morning make sense. Her daughters were staring at her in abject embarrassment.

"Mum I'll go upstairs and change. I had thought the dress would work with my fur, as I am not showing an indecent amount of skin this way. I am sorry for causing trouble." Heather turned obviously to bolt upstairs.

"Stop! Heather you look very fetching and the dress works perfectly the way you chose. You are not indecent and even if you wore it with your glamour, you wouldn't be. You would need to be totally comfortable before wearing it that way, but I would never stop you wearing it that way after making sure you had completely thought out why you chose to wear it.

"You should have asked to borrow the dress from your sister before putting it on though. That way you also wouldn't have surprised her so badly. Did you get the reaction from Hermione that you had desired Heather?" Mum asked.

"I did want to get some shock from you all. I wanted to feel good while sharing the evening with my best friends. Hermione was teasing and you arrived and took it to mean something else. We are becoming close sisters that are comfortable in teasing each other, and spending time with our friend Luna. There is nothing but friendship between the three of us." Heather quickly stated wanting to derail her mum and find a way out of this embarrassment.

"Heather when you shock other people you have to think of their feelings too. Teasing is fun but it can cause you attention, and if you don't want that attention. Or are not ready for a friendship to shift into a different relationship it can cause another to get mixed signals…

"Mum, surely you are not proponing that the 'girl dressed that way and deserved the result' philosophy?" Hermione angrily demanded. "Heather is learning her new person and should not feel that she has restrictions holding her back. It is exactly as she said. We are close sisters. Sisters mum!

"We tease and are developing a strong bond of friendship. You bought this dress for me and never had this conversation with me about when I should wear the dress. I might add that when I wore it, I would be wearing with bared skin. The way she wears it currently is more modest thanks to her fur and it is dramatic and I think she should wear it."

"Now you are twisting what I was saying, Hermione. Can you truthfully tell me you have only sisterly and amicable feelings toward Heather? That your comment was a tease and not something else?"

"Mum, I am not going to lose my new sister and best friend. I am completely happy with the way Heather and my friendship is growing. We're in the middle of a war. I am seventeen and have not finished my education, or established a career. I am not currently looking for a deeper relationship.

"Now I want to get ready before we pick-up Luna, and there is not much time before we need to leave." Hermione then flounced up the stairs leaving her mum and sister behind.

"Can I help…

Dad had exited the drawing room to find out what the commotion was about and lost his words when he saw how his baby was dressed.

"I've got it dear. Heather and I are going to our bedroom to talk, while Hermione gets changed. Then we will pick up Luna. Enjoy your book for a bit." Heather's mum then took hold of her daughter's hand and dragged her up one flight of stairs to the guest suite she was sharing with dad.

"Take a seat on the end of the bed Heather and listen I have a lot to say. Now I know that Hermione has given you an out. You can carry on with your vacillating on how you feel toward Hermione and Luna. Or you can take responsibility for what you have done and we can clear the air. I love you and want you to grow but I love Hermione, my other daughter too. I know she attacked me to deflect and cover for you. That she will defend your choice because she loves you that much is a great thing, which you must not abuse.

"You can hurt Hermione and Luna. Luna openly declared she was interested in either or both of you. I thought until a few minutes ago that Hermione was interested in only Luna, and you were clueless. There comes a point when acting clueless is not nice. It can lead to cruelty. Someone can revel in their power playing with other people's feelings and hide behind an act of I am innocent and clueless.

Heather opened her mount to object but her mum cut her off.

"No Heather you can talk after I am done. Let me get it all out then you can tell me how I am completely wrong or what you think we should do if you decide you agree with some, or all of the conclusions I have drawn.

"Now your dad and I made some decisions based on the belief that we were going to have three girls living together. One of the girls, Luna, has completely declared her intentions of interest with either or both. The second, Hermione that we believed had opened her eyes to a possibility with Luna. Lastly, there was you, the third girl that didn't understand their feelings due to having a lot to work out with her new current situation.

"From these believed facts your dad and I decided how the rooms would be arranged in our house. We then mimicked the set up in this house. We asked you to have Kreature set up a guest suite for Luna on this floor. We wanted you three to work out your feelings without the distraction of lust getting in the way. However, based off what your dad told me this morning that now makes sense having seen what I just witnessed. It would appear I am trying to shut the barn door after the horse has bolted.

"Heather, you are not in trouble. I am not angry as long as you don't lie. So please answer me truthfully did you sleep with Hermione last night?"

Guilt was written clearly on Heather's face but Mrs. Granger was at least thankful that she didn't blatantly deny what she had done as she had feared might happen. Heather quietly whispered that yes she had.

"I know Hermione and I now understand that she has chosen instead of fighting against you for Luna, where one of you would lose. She decided the solution was to share Luna with you. She probably came to your room last night and told you in typical Hermione, everything clearly defined and nailed down, fashion. However, after she had talked with you she would then have asked to stay. As soon as you let her sleep with you, then you accepted the relationship. Even though it was initiated by one, both are equally culpable when the second goes along with the first's suggestion.

"Am I correct in guessing that Hermione asked and you accepted?" Her mum queried and she sheepishly nodded.

"Now you have two choices. You either have to come clean and say you made a mistake or actively work on the new relationship. You can't say you are just friends when it is convenient. Then turn around plan and create an extravagant dinner with Luna's favorite dessert and get dressed to the nine's. This is what I meant about taking responsibility in what you wear not how Hermione twisted it to attack me and defend you.

"So the horse has bolted from the barn. All three of you are accepting in seeing if a three way relationship would work. It is not fair for me to separate Luna on this floor. Either I separate you from each other or I let you have the same access to each other. My next question is if Hermione came back to your room asking to sleep with you again would you sleep with her?"

"Yes I would. I liked it Mum. It was the best night I have ever had." Heather replied.

"Heather, I am glad you are comfortable talking to me about your sexuality. I thought you would be shy and uncomfortable. I am glad you have shown me that you are this mature and comfortable in your body.

"To ensure no one is playing with the emotions of another I would ask you request Kreacher to make up two more bedrooms on the fourth floor, one for Luna and the second for you. The master suite that is currently yours would become jointly owned by the three of you. That way you can each have your own space if you want to be alone, or a space to sleep together and no one has power to say the room you sleep together in, is theirs. I know it is your house but are you willing to make sure the sleeping arrangements don't give you an unfair advantage over Hermione and Luna?" Heather meekly nodded.

"Now there are just a few last topics Heather and then I'll let you say whatever you want or allow you to escape if you prefer. No matter what you chose now, know you can talk with dad or me anytime with any questions or worries. So if you feel you need to escape now, don't think that stops you from being able to come back later with a question.

"Before you decided to enter this relationship the choice, if it became available, to return to being Harry was yours. Though it still is, you started into a relationship as Heather and the choice now to be fair to the other girls, belongs to the three of you. If you say 'it is my choice' and make it, without their input you are being selfish. Do you understand?"

As Heather once more meekly nodded there was a knock on the bedroom door. "I am ready and it is the time we said we would meet Luna at the Rookery." Hermione let them know.

"Hermione wait for us in the drawing room we are not yet done and we can be late if need be. This is important." Mum stated then turning back to Heather. After giving time for Hermione to have left, she then resumed. "We can't go until you completely understand that you are now in a relationship with two other girls. I will be angry if I ever hear you again try to say you are just friends in the future with either of them. Doing that is the sort of thing only a cruel and mean girl would do. I will not tolerate you hurting others to feel better about yourself. You will not play with their feelings. Do you understand, Heather?"

"Yes mum I will not play with their feelings." Totally cowed Heather replied.

Her mum beamed at her so she felt significantly better. She still felt only a few inches tall but at least she wasn't a piece of clod, scrapped off of a dirty shoe, anymore. "I don't have any questions. Can I leave?"

"Heather you will come with me and meet Hermione in the drawing room and think about what you need to say to Hermione now. Also think what you should say to Luna when we pick her up later." Her mum said, letting her know she couldn't run for her room as she had planned.

"You okay?" Hermione asked when they entered the drawing room grabbing onto Heather's arm, and searching to see if mum had hurt her in any way. She wasn't happy with the body language she was getting from Heather.

Heather looked and appreciated Hermione's outfit. She wouldn't be a cruel tease. She would express her emotions as soon as she felt them. She wouldn't be responsible for hurting Hermione again. So tightly hugging herself to Hermione and enjoying her girlfriend who was wearing a short camisole top and a pair of tight short pants and ankle boots. Heather declared, "You're beautiful Hermione. I'm sorry"

She saw the emotions crossing Hermione's eyes. She reveled in the safety she felt clinging to Hermione. She had escaped mum. As she saw Hermione tentatively dip her head asking for a kiss she gave herself to her. She was sharing her first kiss with Hermione in front of both their parents. The embarrassment was not as important as the security and safety she needed after being told she was a nasty girl that had been playing and hurting Hermione. She wouldn't hurt her ever again.

"Baby, Princess, is one of you going to explain that?" their dad asked.

"Not yet, it's okay honey. So Heather the rooms, what do you need ask Kreacher to do?" Mum reminded Heather.

"Kreacher can you ensure two more of the rooms are ready on the fourth floor. One is for Luna and one is for me."

"Mistress has master suite. You need another room?" Kreacher confusedly asked.

"Please just do it, Kreacher. We are running late in picking up Luna, but need to have her room ready for her." Heather resignedly stated, and Kreacher left to do as asked.

"Baby, I thought Luna was staying in the guest room on the third floor."

"We can give that one to our grandparents." Heather replied deferentially.

Hermione, still attached to Heather but wondering what her mum had said to her asked. "What is happening to the main suite on the fourth floor?"

Her mum answered her. "The three of you are sharing it. If you need your own space you will have your own room but the three of you need to be on the same footing if this relationship has a chance to work. There will be no power plays. Hermione; Heather admitted that the two of you slept together last night."

Hermione finally made sense of everything. She could keep quite. Enjoy the ménage a trios, her own mum had made for her or come clean on how mum had totally drawn the wrong conclusions. It was so tempting to just leave everything alone. "Mum that kiss right here; right now, was Heather and my first kiss. Probably brought about by you brow beating her into allowing me to do it. She is literally shaking in my arms, mum. You must have ripped into her and yet not found out what is really going on."

"Hermione, I don't want you lying to me. Heather told me she had the best night of her life ever with you, last night." Her mum interrupted, and drew breath to let her daughter know how disappointed she was in her lying.

"Mum we slept, as in sleeping and hugging each other last night. Heather has horrific night terrors. She has woken up with that curse scar opened up and bleeding because she can see what the dipshit evil wizard that murdered her parents and gave that scar to her and is always trying to kill her, is doing. She sees him torturing and killing people.

"Her own uncensored personal live news show beamed directly into her brain when she is asleep, whenever the wanker is most angry. In other words she gets to see when he is at his most evil. On her first morning in our home this summer she came the closest I have ever seen her to admitting the abuse her relatives did to her that she thinks she can hide from me." Heather tried to shrink behind Hermione.

"I wouldn't be surprised if last night was her best night of sleep she had ever had. However, the closest to sex was witnessed by dad this morning when he found where our hands had inadvertently ended up while we were sleeping. If you asked Heather did she sleep with me, she would reply yes.

"Did you ask her if we had sex? Because I will tell you straight we have unfortunately not had sex yet. I could have kept quiet and allowed you mum to force Heather to give me what I wanted. Thankfully before you became so high handed, opinioned and tried to tell Heather that her wearing an outfit meant she deserved what happened to her. Then actually provided a bedroom so I could have it, you raised me better and to not take advantage of a situation.

"Heather I loved the kiss you gave me and I really enjoy you hugging me, but you have every right to say you are not ready to see if there is more than friendship. I am more than willing to wait for you to decide what you want."

"So change of plans. We will go pick up Luna and you can talk with dad and decide who sleeps where."

"Heather please tell Kreacher to take the two of us to the Rookery," when Heather did, they left their parents in the drawing room.

Emma stared totally devastated looking at Dan, clueless what she should say.

Quickly moving to his wife and catching her in case she crumbled Dan started talking. "You are a great woman, Emma. The best mother and partner I could ask for. You weren't completely in left field. All you have done is jump started a relationship that was almost guaranteed to occur later anyway. You are so smart you saw where it was going but with a couple of miscues didn't realize it had not got there yet. Later they will joke and thank you for starting their relationship. Regardless of whether it is meant to be or not they will thank you. If it wasn't to be, then by it starting earlier it means it will be quicker to work out it had problems. If it is to be they will now have some of the possible hurdles and threats to it starting cleared out of the way of it.

"Even if until they calm down you momentarily, incorrectly become the wicked witch for them. You give them a common enemy that will enable them to build support for each other. And you will always be my smart sexy passionately wicked witch to me." Dan said while pulling his lovely wife into a tight hug holding her. "They will realize that you had their best interests at heart once they have time to calm down."

"Their bedrooms?" Emma tentatively ventured.

"Excuse my French, but the fourth floor is theirs and they can pick their bleepin' own. I wonder if magic could rig an equivalent of a rope pull and bell, so I don't have to venture above the third floor."

"Coward."

"Damn straight, did you hear our daughter?"

"We raised her well, didn't we? Does she no longer need us?" Emma asked both scared and hopefully.

"Both of our daughters will always need us. It's up to them to tell us when they want it. Not to tote my own horn, but I think we both did a damn good job raising Hermione."

"Luna would be our daughter too?"

"Yes she would, and we can be there for her as well."

"I want to tidy myself up. I am thinking we should dress up for dinner tonight, would you wear the suit you wore to the Boddington's party in May?" Emma asked.

"I would be honored to wear it for our date this evening my sexy witch."

Grinning like school kids the two ran for their bedroom.

They had just re-entered the drawing room in evening attire when their daughters returned with their date in the middle of them. Said date was wearing radish earrings, and the flimsiest thinnest nightie they had ever seen. Before either could say anything, Luna grabbed Heather and kissed her wildly right in front of them. Catching her breath she repeated the performance with Hermione. "Did I do the ritual right Hermione?" Luna asked, and after getting a nod carried on, "I really like trying out different culture's rituals, but I really think I enjoyed this one the most. Having me arrive in sleepwear shows your parents my intention to take you both as my mates, yes?" Both Heather and Hermione nodded while their parents tried to work out what to say.

"I really think I should have arrived nude. I told you that I sleep in the nude. I feel so over-dressed. Oh and Heather you said there would be pudding, yes?"

"Mum, dad where do you want Kreacher to put Luna's things?" Hermione asked, daring them to say something.

"Well first, Luna now that you have done the ritual. I think it would be best if you got dressed for dinner. Heather have Kreacher place Luna's things on the fourth floor. The fourth floor belongs to the three of you and after dinner you can decide who sleeps where." Mr. Granger valiantly told them.

"Mr. Granger I can actually sleep in the great big bed and ravish both your daughters? I thought they were pulling my leg?" Luna said.

"I better get started cooking dinner or it won't be ready."

"I will get your things into your bedroom Luna."

Both twins ran fleeing from the room.

"Might I suggest you get dressed?" Mrs. Granger told Luna.

"That's okay, I actually now see why people wear nighties. I will go help Hermione with my stuff then?"

"What will your parents think?" Dan asked, suddenly finding the drawing room contained just the two of them.

"We have some time to train her. Failing that we knockdown the stairs between the third and fourth floors while they're up there." Emma suggested.

"They can apparate and have a house elf." Dan reminded her.

"And it was such a good plan too." They both started laughing thinking what it would be like with Emma's parents here.

Though Luna had not changed clothes she had taken the polyjuice with a Siamese crossed half-kneazle, and the fur offered modesty where the clothing had offered none. She was currently pouting at Hermione whom had not taken the potion with her. "If you had taken it we could be identical twins from the cat side while Heather was your identical twin on the human side." Luna expounded, cute ash white tail with the top half dark black flicking vibrantly, and black tipped ears twitching.

"Why did you take the polyjuice potion, already Luna? Couldn't you have found out if the trace was still active and so find out if it was even needed?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"This halibut is the best fish I have ever eaten. That is why I was not waiting to take the polyjuice. One of my girlfriends cooks astoundingly the best fish ever cooked and I can eat it as a human or as a cat-girl. I'm eating it as a cat-girl."

Hermione part way through the main course leapt from the table and charged upstairs.

"Should I call Kreature to get the potion before she drinks it?" Heather asked.

"Thank you for the offer Heather, but it is her decision. I shouldn't have asked Luna." Mum said.

"I've lost count on the number of times I've said that to myself." Heather replied.

"Hey! Heather that was not nice," Luna pouted.

"There's pudding for dessert."

"Still's not a very nice thing to say."

Crookshanks followed a third female cat-girl that matched Luna's fur colouring, into the dining room and begged for some of the fish too.

Dan looked at his daughter. "You forgot about the hairballs didn't you?"

"Don't you ruin my dinner!" Hermione retorted.

With dinner finished, and all of the pudding was eaten. The Grangers stared a little perplexed at the waif of a girl as she polished off one after another. The topic of the war that had been shelved until after this meal could be opened up.

"So the task Dumbledore gave Heather?" Dan started the ball rolling. "Baby you're up."

"Before that mum, dad, I want to say something." Hermione interjected. "The whole deal when we arrived was staged. We felt we owed you the performance. We are exploring our possibility of a three way relationship but are currently teasing friends that are willing to experiment a bit. Because of earlier we want it known that we don't feel you have any right to disagree with how we handle our relationship as long as we are not hurting each other.

"Some of us are more eager to get the experiments over and get to the good stuff. Like lots of pudding." Luna added.

After a moment where it was obvious their parents were not planning to say something, Heather decided to change the subject. "Fine the reason Vo… You-Know-Who managed to survive and not die is because of a ritual that makes something called a horcrux or soul anchor." Heather began, looking at Luna to see if she knew about horcruxes, Luna didn't react though.

"Last year we gained information that let us know he had made six. The diary that caused the basilisk to attack Hermione in our second year was one that I luckily destroyed. Dumbledore destroyed a second last year, and the day he died we thought we had uncovered a third. Unfortunately," Heather pulled the locket off that she had put on just before serving dinner in preparation for this talk, "This one was replaced by someone else that was also hunting one of his soul anchors. It is unclear if they destroyed it as the note from someone with initials R. A. B. that was inside states they would have destroyed it by the time you-know-who found out.

Heather then gave the note to her dad that she had discovered within the locket she had accidently found when kneeling beside her headmaster's corpse a few days ago.

While the note was passed around the table Heather continued. "So one task is to work out who the person is and find out if it is destroyed and if not destroy it. The next is to search and find the other three items and destroy them too. Once that is done you-know-who is mortal and I can kill him.

"Hold on! I can possibly see that Dumbledore didn't want him making more so wanted the knowledge that they were being hunted kept known to a minimum number of people. I wish he would have chosen adults with experience to carry the task out though. However, why does he make you think that you have to kill him, Heather? You're sixteen, isn't there a magical military that should get rid of him?" Mr. Granger challenged.

Heather took a deep breath. "My parents were targeted because there was a prophecy made. Vol… you-know-who heard part of it that basically stated either Neville or I would be the one with the power to kill him. Due to him acting on the half of the prophecy that he knew, he killed my parents and gave me this scar that meant because of the second half of the prophesy, which he is unaware of, that I am the one that will either kill him or be killed by him.

A crash of breaking plates caused everyone to look at Kreacher that had been clearing the dinner table.

"Why Mistress Black's Luna has Master Reggie's note?" Kreacher asked staring at the note that had been handed around the table and Luna was currently holding.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

The War Marshal's first battle

The Wizengmot floor had finally calmed down after the morning spectacle that saw Narcissa almost squibbed. Madam Bones could have only wished that upon a few other witches or wizards, but otherwise wouldn't complain. Once all the murmuring had died down, and they had at last realized there was nothing they could do to find out about the new Prima Black and their lockdown wards the body had managed to actual get something done.

They had decided they needed and chosen a War Marshal, something that though on the laws had rarely been done before. Whether it was in hopes an extra Ministry official would enable the ability to find out anything on the lockdown wards or not she didn't know. A War Marshal once created could only be removed from position if both the Minister and Head of the Department of Mysteries agreed to dissolve the position. Madam Bones was not too happy on the result. On the good side the body had ensured that the person winning, if it could be called winning, was neither from you-know-who's camp or one that was as good as, nor one that was a political schemer, nor an ineffectual or easily mislead and corrupted buffoon like Fudge had been. The bad news was they had chosen her. As more than two thirds of this esteemed body was at least leaning into you-know-who's camp she knew she had placed herself and her niece into extreme risk.

One thing was sure she wouldn't be letting her niece return to Hogwarts next year. She could far too easily be blackmailed if the enemy got hold of the only member of her family left. For this reason she rudely blew off all the supposed meetings that one aspiring to political office knew were essential. She didn't care she didn't want the position and only accepted it because she couldn't trust any of the other choices presented. She also knew that where the august body would waste its time with rumors and posturing they wouldn't think of the possibly easiest way to find out how to get in contact with Prima Black.

With Dumbledore dead the Wizengmot members that were not supporters of you-know-who were a group of chickens without the head. Magic tended to swirl out from those blessed or cursed with an overabundance of its gift. It was the select minority with more power like the 'you-know-who's' and the Dumbledore's that made the waves causing their world to be pushed or pulled a given way. Unlike the stuffy fools that disregarded those younger until it was too late to ignore, magic did not. With the meeting over and rudely ignoring everyone Madam Bones left the floor for the trace office. There were six children that had stormed the ministry a year ago she needed to locate.

Though Croaker was not supposed to be on active duty he watched from his secure office deep within the department of mysteries the multiple views were from the charms on Bones in several locations and from his team that he had following the security detail protecting the new War Marshal. He had known that with her survival of the latest attack and the rumors of her fighting with her guards that she would be the winning candidate. The department had only supported the proposal to create a War Marshal as they knew Bones would get it. They had gambled years ago on not hiring her into their ranks with a few other choices that they kept watching over the years. These were the 'hands off sleeper agents' that were only kept on the books if the choices they made stayed in line with what the department expected and needed.

Unfortunately they had a low success rate because they couldn't directly coach their candidates as that would have precluded them from being able to accept the types of positions of power they hoped they would be beneficial serving in. Any agent or asset knowingly run by the department could not gain power within the Ministry. Magic ensured the separation of the two branches of magical government. Though most were barely aware of the Shadows, there were the two groups for balance and neither could extend their control into the other's bailiwick.

It was the two groups that ran magical Britain under treaty to the throne. The Shadows didn't operate in areas most of the magicals needed to know of. Though they didn't have power in the Ministry they could watch and help certain people within the Ministry more than others. If they tried to directly influence it would fail or not work the way they had expected. So mainly they watched and made the path easier for their 'hands off sleeper agents'. Then they just had to hope the ones helped would do what they expected them to do.

He had assigned a few single agents in various places that could be called as support at a moment's notice. He also already had a team protecting the living area being prepared for the new office holder. This was both to ensure nothing happened even when no one was there to be protected, and ensure that nothing was being added that was or would enable a security breach. When Bones was at her residence she would actually have two active teams plus her own security detail. It was imperative to wizard society's survival that he kept Bones alive. He could not think of any other person for the current job. Now where the heck was she going?

Bones had hoped for Harry or Hermione's location, she had expected better than only fifty percent of the traces to yield a location. Well at least three had active traces. She would see the two youngest Weasleys first. She left sweeping from the trace office with all seven self-updating with the only trace knowledge or at least knowledge or lack thereof knowledge on the six individuals and her niece in her hands, prevented any others from attempting to obtain it later. Not wanting to create a paper trail she headed into her current office. It would take time to be provided new offices and have this one taken from her and she should strike while the iron was hot.

Leaving her security detail outside and stating she didn't want to be disturbed for any reason for the next three hours she closed her office door. At gone four in the afternoon it was hopeful no one would think to look for her here rather than head home and hope to talk to her tomorrow when she would have to return to the Wizengmot and be sworn in.

Believing herself alone she used her private password and opened her floo connection to the Weasleys' asking Molly to let her come through. Forty minutes later she angrily returned. She knew that both children and Molly knew something. However, they refused her any information. All she gleaned was they seemed to dislike Prima Black. Now she had only one other potential source of information. Wasting no time she was asking Augusta to allow her to enter.

"Augusta, I thank you for receiving me on short notice. I will cut to the chase and I apologize for my abrupt departure from the Wizengmot earlier. I need to talk to your grandson, Neville, as I think he knows something about the new Prima Black."

"You want to know about Heather?" Madam Longbottom replied surprised.

Bones had never expected that response but now she knew Prima Black was a witch and apparently another source of information she hadn't expected. "You have met Heather Black?"

"Not yet but I am hoping to soon announce her betrothal to my grandson, Neville. You will of course be invited and of course also Susan, as your niece is the same age as them. It will be nice to have children their same age during the betrothal ball I intend to have on the thirtieth of July."

Amelia took a deep breath and analyzed what she was being told. The initial dichotomy of the fact Augusta had not met Heather Black jarring with the announcement of betrothal and a dance. Oh, that was what Augusta was doing. She obviously knew the witches name and information from Neville. Then was being an opportunist for access to the lockdown wards acting on her grandson's interest right away before someone else tried this way. She obviously felt the reward worth the risk her grandson's infatuation was not founded on a good choice. She was also through Bones, 'establishing notice' of the time her betrothal was initiated. Just in case another decided to act on their son's interest in the witch and the witch was enjoying tantalizing more than one target for affection.

"What can you tell me about Heather Black?"

"I will of course keep her middle name to myself." Augusta began and having got a nod continued. "Due to Sirius being a fugitive, incorrectly believed guilty…

"What do you mean incorrectly believed guilty?" Amelia demanded

"Well in our fear to not have a guilty Black get off we didn't provide a trial and actually imprisoned an innocent wizard. Pettigrew was the secret keeper and traitor. Black was the decoy. They told everyone he was the secret keeper not knowing that they chose a death eater as the secret keeper. Pettigrew is apparently alive. He is an unregistered rat animagus missing a toe from his front foot. He cut off his finger, blew up the street killing the twelve muggles, turned into a rat and escaped into the sewers leaving a hysterical Black for your aurors to capture."

"Didn't you think you should tell somebody this Augusta?"

"I only found that out from my grandson this morning. Potter told Fudge years ago but Fudge refused to listen. Anyway due to Black being a fugitive his daughter was kept out of Hogwarts but taught by several of Hogwarts professors in secret. She is best friends with Hermione. Obviously she is just as smart but there is no recognition for her scores due to her being in hiding. With Black being Potter's godfather during the two years he was a fugitive the two had frequent contact and Potter took to him as a father figure. This meant that Sirius' daughter and Potter during the holidays were raised together. According to my grandson she is, and I quote, 'as close to being Harry's sister as it is possible to be without actually being his true sister'.

"So Amelia is there anything else you need to know?" Augusta asked while trying to wrap up the conversation.

"Could I talk to your grandson?"

"He is busy in his greenhouse. Let me know the questions and I will get the answers back to you. I might know the answer and that would save you the bother. It will be approaching dinner soon and I am sure you have numerous things that are critical to do with fighting you-know-who in your new position as War Marshal. What are the questions?"

Amelia clearly heard the dismissal. Considering how she had willingly handed over numerous facts it seemed odd she didn't want her to speak to her grandson. Then again, she was rather overprotective when it came to her grandson. She was about to state the things she wanted to know. Primarily she wanted a means of contact for Miss Black. She was in the process of putting her thoughts together on the questions she needed answered when Croaker hobbled in.

"Algie what happened to you?" Augusta asked clearly worried.

"Nothing, nothing it looks worse than it is. Experiment from work got away from me. I was hoping we could discuss what we were talking about previously. I really think it is a good idea to have Neville talk with our new War Marshal. She will give him the confidence he heeds. Bones you remember where Neville's greenhouses are? Augusta when were you going to tell me about Neville having a fiancé?" Croaker grabbed his confused sister who was reeling from the bombardment of questions and took her toward the study leaving the guest alone. It was the height of bad manners.

It was also patently deliberate. Bones knew that the injuries were neither from an experiment nor were they 'nothing that looked worse than they were'. Further, he was not present for the reveal of the possible betrothal. He obviously wanted to enable her to talk to Neville. He also was clearly either spying on her or Augusta in order to have known to interrupt when he did. Most likely it was on her he had been spying. He had conveniently stepped in to save her life the other evening. She wondered how much of getting the new position was due to him. She also worried what the Department of Mysteries was after.

Well she might as well take advantage of the diversion Croaker was obviously giving her. She headed for Neville's greenhouses. She found him in the second she entered. "Good evening Neville, I was hoping you could talk to me about your fiancé."

Neville whirled around nearly dropping the pot he had been holding. "Forgive me Madam Bones I wasn't paying attention. What were you asking?" Neville carefully put the pot down. Calmed his breathing and hoped she would say something different from what he thought she had said. He rubbed his hands to get some of the soil off.

"I was asking about Heather Black. Your grandma had been discussing how much you wanted to formalize a betrothal with her. She is arranging a betrothal ball for your birthday" Amelia carefully watched Neville and though the betrothal was not unknown to him he was more resigned to it than actually wanting it. 'Thank you Croaker' she mentally thought.

"You do want to be betrothed to Heather, don't you Neville?"

"I met Heather for the first time a couple of days ago on the Hogwarts trip home, she is a nice witch." Neville frantically tried to think what to say.

"I thought Heather was Hermione's best friend?" Madam Bones stated giving Neville a reprieve, he evidently didn't want to be rude to the witch but didn't know what to say about her.

"Oh yes Hermione has known her for the longest. I just met her and I don't think she shares the same interests as Han…" Neville clamped down on what he was about to say. "Yes, she doesn't share my interest in herbology."

"Is there another witch in Gryffindor that does share your interest in herbology, Neville?" she had got it right as Neville started to blush.

"She isn't a Gryffindor." Then Neville realized what he had said.

"Does my niece Susan know the girl you like? I am sure she could help you. You are going to have to work quickly or your grandma will have you betrothed to Heather and that isn't very nice to both of you. Or is it my niece you like. You used to play with her and her best friend all the time. The three of you were inseparable."

"Your niece is a nice girl like Heather too, Madam Bones. Both of them are not keen on herbology though."

"Hanna is though." Amelia gloated seeing Neville blush bright red. So Susan's best friend, now she had an in to talk with Heather. "Neville, you need to talk with Hanna and the Abbott's to act fast enough or there could be the three of you hurt by your grandmother.

"Grandmother doesn't like herbology." Neville declared despondently.

"I am going to tell your grandmother that I would like you to come over to dinner with my niece. I will arrange Hanna and her parents to be there and we will see how the meal goes. Can you provide me a means to contact Heather so I can ensure she stalls the betrothal for you?"

"Professor Moody was going to provide security, I believe they are at Hermione's house. Oh, and the eldest Weasley, I think his name is Bill was going to put up wards."

Thanking Neville she left him in his green house. Well Moody was a better choice than another Weasley. She knew they were behind Black's lockdown wards not living at the Grangers but still she had another strong source of information. In leaving Croaker came through again when Augusta didn't want Neville to have dinner. Unfortunately, the help was only half good and half annoying. Where she had been planning to arrange the dinner in the future, Croaker had caused it to happen this evening. Now she couldn't search for Moody as she had planned, but must get a dinner organized and get the Abbot's and their daughter Hanna invited.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Black and Potter!

 _Previously_

 _"Why Mistress Black's Luna has Master Reggie's note?" Kreacher asked staring at the note that had been handed around the table and Luna was currently holding._

* * *

"Regulus Black, if his middle initial was 'A'." Hermione pondered aloud.

"Kreacher, do you know anything about this and the other locket it was swapped with?" Heather asked looking at Kreacher, while tapping the locket. Getting Kreacher's attention off of Luna as he looked like he was about to attack her. In order to get the note she held.

"Please Mistress Black. Master Black promised me to not say. Don't make me break Master Black's promise, please."

Kreacher looked so dejected and miserable and Heather couldn't find the heart to force him when he had been so wonderful for the last two days. "It's alright Kreacher I won't force you to break your promise."

"Heather we need that information." Her dad pointed out.

"Let's look at the drawing room tapestry first. We will find Regulus's full name on it. It is wise to first see if he even had a middle initial of 'A'. After that if we confirm that this note is from him. Well then we can decide what we need to do." Heather replied. Heather knew she was stalling, Kreacher had already claimed the note as belonging to Sirius's younger brother, but hopefully she would think of something while distracting everyone else.

All she could think about was of the poor relationship between Sirius and Kreacher. How that coupled with being controlled by a portrait, likely led to the house elf lying. She wanted to prove that a partnership was possible between witch and house elf. Heather then left the dining room. She crossed the second floor landing and entered the drawing room with the others, including a wretched Kreacher, following.

Mum noticed the entry first, and drew everyone's attention to it. 'Regulus Arcturus Black born April 23, 1961 died October 8, 1979'.

Heather feeling pressure from the rest of the room's occupants, stood in front of Kreacher. "There has to be another way to find out where the actual locket is without making Kreacher break his promise." She pled for someone to agree with her.

Hermione stood beside her best friend. "We will find another way."

"Heather you are Kreacher's Mistress and that means you are able to reason with your house elf. Even if you choose to have the information shared in private. It will not violate the prior promise. Heather you can modify any prior Master's promise. The current bond of you as Kreacher's Mistress is absolute."

Heather didn't like the knowledge that she could trump prior promises that seemed like a master and slave bond. Not a symbiotic one. She was thinking of how to disagree without saying it badly. When her dad came to her and gently held her. He lifted her head that had fallen to look at the floor in frustration, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Heather, I know you don't want to hurt Kreacher but it is imperative we find the real locket. We need to destroy it. We just…

"Mistress Black wants to destroy the other locket?" Kreacher asked Heather hopefully perking up from his disheveled state, and coming around from behind his Mistress's back to see her face.

"Yes Kreacher, I must destroy the locket that Master Black swapped this one with."

"Mistress Black can promise to destroy locket?" Kreacher asked. The poor little thing now was almost looking giddy and happy.

"I have to find a way to destroy it Kreacher. I promise I will destroy it and I have already destroyed another one of these things before."

It was quite surprising to find they were already in the same room as the actual locket. Kreacher had moved to the desk opened a drawer. He placed his finger inside the drawer obviously pressing an internal catch and a decorative panel of the desk opened. Reaching into the small opening Kreacher extracted a similar locket to the one they had been discussing around the dining table. After closing the panel to hide the secret compartment once more he handed the locket to Heather.

* * *

Voldemort tried to remain calm. With having already lost several followers. It wouldn't do to let his anger take more resources from him. He was finding it hard to not allow his frustration to take control. He needed his potion master. He would just let him know how much he had disappointed him. Of course he would let him sweat for a while first. His mind wanted to drift on to other topics that were annoying him.

If only the team he had sent to kill Bones had succeeded. However, she now had been handed power that put his plans for taking over the ministry in to jeopardy. He had known that she was a problem that needed to be eliminated. So how to take the ministry, remove Bones and get behind those wards.

Voldemort remembered sitting in the Black's drawing room. How he disliked having to act polite to the useless witch that was giving her son, Regulus to him. He was seeing the Black's family drawing room. There was a house elf, just like the one he had used, handing a locket to Potter. No! It couldn't be. That elf was dead. His locket was safe. He lashed out at Potter.

* * *

Heather suddenly hissed and dropped the locket grabbing her head. She had experienced sharp pain from her scar. When she pulled her hand away from her scar there was some blood on her hand. The pain was the same as when she had been in Voldemort's presence, the bleeding used to only occur when she had been looking through his, or his familiar's eyes. It was a horcrux alright, she didn't like that she seemed far more vulnerable to them though. The diary had never done this and she had written in that. "I don't think we should touch it."

"Well you definitely shouldn't. Come here let's get the scar cleaned up." Hermione said grabbing Heather.

"Kreacher hurt Mistress."

As she was being pulled from the room Heather twisted back, "You will not punish yourself, Kreacher."

Heather returned to be informed Kreacher had returned the locket back in to its secret compartment until they had a method to destroy it. He'd done it before anyone had thought to tell him not to touch it. It hadn't appeared to hurt him. Just in case she had told him that the locket shouldn't be touched again until they were ready to destroy it.

She was happy that the promise to destroy the locket earlier had allowed Kreacher to find a reason to overcome the promise to not talk about it. Especially as she had been worried that if push came to shove she might have abused the power she had just discovered she apparently had. Would she do whatever she had to, in order to get what she needed? Was she that ruthless? Was she evil?

The worries gnawed at her and her biggest concern was that the self-questioning might be from Heather. When she had been Harry she hadn't given a second thought to what she did. Now when she looked back on events from the past she found herself constantly looking for how she could have done it differently. There were even events with the Dursley's where Heather pointed out his curt response had been rude or lacking respect that likely exacerbated the situation. Had she made herself weaker by embracing Heather? The prophecy quoted 'he'. Could only Harry destroy Voldemort? Was that why the horcrux was able to attack Heather where the diary had not been able to hurt Harry?

Now she just had to work out how to keep her promise to Kreacher and destroy it. However, fear was challenging her because what if she couldn't? She had said she destroyed one before, but she didn't destroy it. Harry had destroyed the diary, not her. During her introspection she realized she had seen the locket before. In fact she had held it before when she was Harry and it hadn't attacked him.

"Hermione we had that locket the other summer. Do you remember we were looking through the items in the desk? It was one of the items that were determined to be cursed and placed for throwing away."

"Kreacher kept it safe. Master Reggie gave it to me to destroy. After everyone sleep after throwing it away, I took it. I hid it. After lockdown wards and good Mistress Black here protect house and let me clean house. I placed it back in here, still hoping to destroy it. Now Mistress Black promise will destroy the locket." Kreacher hopefully looked at Heather.

"Thank you Kreacher for keeping the locket safe and I will find away for it to be destroyed."Kreacher beamed at her, which Heather thought was a bit scary actually. Internally she was in meltdown. It was the same locket. Against a horcrux she was weaker.

"Heather there is a problem." Luna stated. While everyone had been concentrating on the house elf and horcrux Luna had been poking around the drawing room looking at what ever took her fancy. "You're on the tapestry."

"Yes, I know that Luna. My paternal grandmother was Dorea Black that married my dad's father to become a Potter. I already saw that before during the summer we spent here." Heather replied.

"I am not talking about that entry for Harry James Potter. I am talking about this one for you." Luna pointed to a line that came down from one of the scorched off names that was just to the left of Regulus's entry that they had looked at earlier.

The odd thing was that the date of birth was toggling between four dates, one moment stating July fourteenth of this year, today. The second date was two days earlier on the twelfth. The third was the nineteenth of September, nineteen-seventy-nine and the last was July thirty-first of nineteen-eighty. A cold shiver went down her spine as she read the name 'Heather Jabbah Black'. Apparently she was according to the tapestry the daughter of Sirius Orion Black. It was his name that had previously been at this location on the tapestry where now only the scorch mark was. Heather clearly recalled Sirius proudly showing the scorch mark of where his name had been the last summer they had spent at the house. Telling her it was burned off by his mother when he had run away from home.

"That wasn't on the tapestry earlier when we were looking at Sirius's younger brother?" Heather nervously asked.

"I think we would have noticed the changing dates. It is pretty eye catching?" Hermione added what everyone was thinking.

"That flippin' name has to be one of Moody's!" Heather angrily stated. "That better not be my name. Sounds like that giant slime ball monster that ate tiny young creatures alive and enjoyed watching things die."

"If you are talking about the smuggler boss from 'Star Wars' that doesn't have the last 'h'." her dad stated then hopefully added." So if you stress the 'h' giving it a long 'ah', it sounds completely different."

"You didn't choose that name, dad did you?"

"No baby, I did not choose it but it sounds rather sophisticated and elite. You are being distracted by this though. I think we should discuss the horcrux we have found and worry about the tapestry later when we have more information."

Though Heather wanted to worry about why a name, starting and ending Heather and Black, with both Hermione and her birthdays amongst several changing dates of birth that now was on the tapestry she reluctantly agreed that it would be pointless guess work. Unfortunately just because she understood they should concentrate on the horcrux that just landed in their laps, didn't miraculously allow her do so. Two problems were now plaguing her. Realizing she had missed a question she asked dad to repeat.

"I was asking how you destroyed the other horcrox."

"Oh, I just took the broken off piece of basilisk fang that had got lodged into my arm when the basilisk had bit me and stabbed it into the diary a few times." Heather informed them not noticing the concerned faces around her. They were anxious at the lack of worry about her own life as she blithely explained how the prior horcrux had been destroyed.

"Please tell me the being bitten first is not a necessary requirement in using this method of destruction." Mum frantically requested.

"Nope, but I didn't think to keep hold of the fang. So at the very least we would have to get another fang from the dead basilisk under Hogwarts." Heather stated.

"We will research to see if we can find any other method." Hermione added, looking to both Luna and Heather to get them on board with the research.

"Is there a need for magic that would prevent both of us helping in that research?" Mum asked.

The query reminded Hermione that they also had a whole library available to them here, one that might not be safe. "Actually that would help as you could free us up to search the library that wouldn't be as good an idea for you to enter, as the prior owners were rather anti-muggle."

"That is an understatement." Heather added.

"Right so tomorrow we research on other methods to destroy the horcruxes. As Dumbledore wanted the information kept at a minimum we don't share what we are specifically researching with the rest. We will also try to work out what the other three might me. Heather, preferably this evening, you need to write a letter to let Moody know about the tapestry and see what he thinks it means. Anything else we should worry about?" Dad said.

"If we are now not including Ron, and we want this information kept secret. …Well, so there isn't a risk if he gets angry when we inform him of his non-inclusion. I think I need to study up on the oblivation charm." Hermione added, while looking guiltily at Heather and wondering how she would react.

"Unless you want to learn it, we can save time, if you just tell me what you want Ronald to forget." Luna let them know. She then looked around at everyone staring at her. "I forget you haven't really met my dad. But Hermione and Heather, he was in the same room as we discussed the prank we intended to pull on your parents when we arrived here and he saw what I was wearing when we left. Did you think that was appropriate behavior for a dad?"

"Luna! You have not been obliviating your own dad when you feel like it?" Hermione scandalously asked, dreading the response.

"What! No but since mum died, dad really isn't all there and if he kept on being charged with breaking the international statute of secrecy then not only would the fines get problematic, but he would likely not be able to operate as a reporter. I made it my number one priority to learn the obliviate spell to cover up when he did or said something he shouldn't in front of muggles, so the authorities didn't need to be bothered."

"But, but the trace!" Hermione lost for words exclaimed.

"As an international reporter I got my first waiver filed a couple of years ago. I didn't need to renew it this summer as I found out last Christmas that my trace was inactive."

Now everyone was gaping at Luna. "Luna, why did you take the polyjuice potion?" Mr. Granger declared trying to ignore the apathetic attitude of the right's of muggles' memories that even their own daughters and girlfriend apparently had, let alone the rest of the magic folk at large held.

"I thought we already covered that. Absolute best dish of fish cooked ever by one of my girlfriends." Luna stated causing Heather to blush.

Dan wanted to end this meeting and escape the madness, but knew he needed to ensure there was nothing else that should be covered. "Right moving on, is there anything else we need to discuss or think about now?"

"We had mentioned it in passing and then keep forgetting, but Kreacher I am really thankful for everything you have done and am not doing this because I think you are inadequate. However, in case we need to quickly pop somewhere I don't want us stuck with limitations. I would like to get some more house elves here so we are not restricted. You are a fantastic house elf you don't mind do you?" Heather asked while looking at Kreacher.

"Mistress Black can have as many house elves as Mistress needs." Kreacher said completely uncaring.

To think she had worried she would hurt his feelings. "Do you need to get them?" Heather inquired, and after Kreacher's nod. "I allow Dobby and Winky to enter the Black lockdown wards. They are at Hogwarts." Instantly Kreacher was gone and within a few minutes returned with a shriveled lump of cloth and a hyper Dobby that instantly latched onto Hermione.

"Greatest Wizard Master Potter's Hermy, where Greatest Wizard Master Potter? Winky dying must bond now!"

Well aside the look from Dobby when he finally understood his idol was now a witch. Heather felt the request to have 'Hermy' bond with Winky then Dobby leaving with Winky right after, to get her better a slight against the new her. Dobby had adamantly declared he needed no help in taking care of the house elf. It was disturbing. No, she had to be truthful even though the hyper always praising house elf had been annoying, the current almost ignoring caused a painful loss. Hopefully it was shock, because she didn't want a second hit against being Heather. Dobby was important and it hurt.

With the meeting wrapped up the girl's left for the fourth floor. Reaching it the three of them nervously shifted about and rather embarrassed looked at each other to decide if they should go to their new individual bedrooms or the shared master suite for the night.

Breaking the tension Luna exclaimed. "Well considering you two got to sleep with each other last night. I want to sleep with you both tonight." She then nonchalantly entered the master suite leaving the door open and expecting them to follow her.

* * *

The second that Voldemort found himself back in his own body he was moving. That couldn't be the locket. It couldn't, but he must know if Potter somehow knew of his horcrux. Had Potter learned them from their linked minds? He needed to check the cave. As he was leaving, Severus arrived.

Severus had been preparing his shields knowing that he was being called for providing inaccurate information. He was sure that he had been taken in to the complete confidence with Dumbledore. However, his doubts were heightened now with this new bastard Black that stopped Narcissa from claiming Prima Black.

The mutt couldn't even die without attacking him. He had tormented him throughout his schooldays. Ensured he had no enjoyment and reprieve from the abuse his father provided during the holidays. No his years at school thanks to Black and Potter were hell. They caused him to lose Lily. They drove him to join the death eaters and have a master that was likely to kill him if he didn't get his shields working.

Black and Potter, he loathed them. Now even dead they somehow each have a brat, ensuring that he is tortured. If they had never been at Hogwarts he would have married Lily. His schooling would have been, well even if not great, it would not have been that, what it was. Lily was smart enough that perhaps she could have found a way to enable his mother and himself to escape his drunkard father that killed her.

It was always Black and Potter. The two always thick as thieves would be flaunting themselves as the 'marvelous' Marauders with their stupid childish attitudes. Ones that Dumbledore allowed them to keep and laughed along with them, giving minimal detentions, if any. For nearly killing him they should have been expelled, but Dumbledore favored them. Black and Potter believed that Hogwarts was theirs, and they lorded it over everyone. Why did the majority of children think the idiotic boisterous bullies were cool?

Forcing his errant thoughts behind his shields he swung open the door and nearly crashed into the Dark Lord. Falling to his knees he stammered. "M…my Lord." Severus prepared for the pain that he knew was coming but the Dark Lord swung passed him and strode away from him. Panic won the battle between the other emotions of surprise, confusion and relief. If the Dark Lord ignored the person he had requested for a failing assignment then something must be very wrong. His whirlwind thoughts arose from his shields and he internally yelled 'Black! Potter! What idiocy have you done now?'


	14. Chapter 14

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Counting Eggs

Voldemort left the Gaunt shack cursing. Three of his means of immortality were gone. Even if they hadn't been destroyed, his enemy had them behind lockdown wards. He had found the cave had no locket, and the shack he had just discovered had no ring. He knew how Malfoy had caused his diary to be destroyed. At the time he had thought it bad luck. For sure he punished Malfoy but had believed the reports from everyone claiming the Potter boy a brash stupid idiot Gryffindor. He had accepted Potter as a fool that dived into trouble head first with no thought. What if the boy was cunning enough to hide his intelligence? He was actually Slytherin enough to act the Gryffindor clown.

He had already lost out to gain the lockdown wards relying on Snape's information that it had to be Potter that the lockdown wards had raised upon. Plainly his potion master could not provide clear unbiased information when it came to involve Potter. Look how Potter managed to always survive his attacks by apparent luck and the skin of his teeth. However, if the boy was in realty a master of manipulation, was gifted in intelligence, and wisely cunning enough to hide in the shadows. Appear as no threat, to be completely underestimated, and then strike when his enemy was turned and not ready. The prophecy had stated that this baby was coming with the power to destroy him.

Would a brash idiot be capable of hindering and stopping him at every turn? He was the greatest Dark Lord in history. He was immortal. No the far more logical conclusion was that Potter had hoodwinked Malfoy and Snape. He had got them emotionally compromised and played at the competitive nature of each. So they would provide him false data. Yes, Potter kept surviving because he had believed the erroneous information. In reality a boy in their second year of Hogwarts had cunningly tricked the memory of his near Hogwarts graduate self.

Potter had made his memory within the diary believe the boy was a dumb fool, and from that first time underestimated Potter probably learned of Voldemort's horcrux. He had been hunting them for four years. That was why he was able to capture the best protected and hid horcrux by the end of his sixth year. He needed to check Bellatrix to ensure the one he had given to her to protect was still safe.

However, seen as the two he thought best protected were gone. He needed to check on the one inside Hogwarts first. Potter had spent six years at the school. If he could find these two, while still a child, during summers that from shared thoughts of the Dursleys he knew offered little spare time for the boy to look. He could much more easily have found the one hidden at Hogwarts. No the boy's thought luck was ending because he knew the truth. He would not underestimate his enemy again.

Apparating to the Malfoy estate that he had shanghaied and occupied as if it was his own he briskly entered and seeing Crabbe demanded he find Bellatrix, Lucius, the Carrows and his executioner McNair, for an immediate meeting. After getting them he wanted Crabbe to have Burke available for when their meeting ended. He headed to what had been the Malfoys' ballroom, but was now his throne room. Finding Snape still waiting he told him to leave and return with the potions he needed first thing tomorrow. He was far too angry to risk punishing his potion master when he like as not could kill him. He would need to be careful he didn't lose it on Malfoy too.

Thankfully he had only moments alone prior to the requested lieutenants arriving. Looking first to Amycus and Alecto Carrow, as the siblings worked best together, "You will lead a group of at least six death eaters. Bellatrix and Malfoy you will each lead two more groups. McNair I want you to make a team that will drive the acromantular colony in the forbidden forest, at Hogwarts.

"The four of you will with your three teams attack Hogwarts from other sides. I recommend you don't get too close to McNair's group. You will begin the attack in twenty minutes. Each of you will send a stinging hex through your mark when you start the attack. If needed send a second signal of the crucio if you have to break off the attack for some reason. The reason better be good or you will suffer my displeasure. I am fine with seventy-five percent casualties on my side. McNair your team is expendable. Now go!"

After they left he headed toward the door to save time as he had little to say to Burke. As the wizard entered he spoke. "We are going to your shop."

* * *

Heather was blissfully asleep when she thought she heard Dumbledore's voice. "Harry, Harry, wake up Harry!" She sat up in the Black's master room and disentangled herself from Luna who'd grabbed a pillow over her head to not be woken. Finding her wand beneath her own pillow she cast. "Lumos." She didn't see anyone in the room.

"Oh, Hermione, playing with polyjuice again I see. Nice orange I am sure Ron will like the color to match his favorite quidditch team the Chudley Cannons. Anyway I thought Harry would use this room when I was informed by Phineas he was at Grimmauld Place. Can you get him quickly?"

"Headmaster?" Heather tried to get the sleep out of her eyes. Was that the headmaster in a picture frame? This was for sure an odd dream. She felt Luna trying to pull her back into bed and a disgruntled noise from Hermione's direction.

"Hermione, Hogwarts is being attacked I need Harry now!" Dumbledore began but now joining the orange neko Hermione was an ash white with black tipped neko Hermione. The ash white one identified herself as Hermione and informed him the original orange was Heather, whom used to be Harry. There was a third neko human in the bed as he could see a tail to match Hermione's angrily waving out of a pile of bedding. The third, probably Ron, obviously was the bedding hogger and not happy with being disturbed. He was quite happy the three of them had found a way to get together. Though he had never had much interest in the female form to each their own he guessed. Hermione seemed to have awoken while Harry, though starting first was still more than half asleep.

"I have a few things in my office you must get. I was going to have my will enable some of these things to come to you, but I can't let Voldemort get them or the other items too. Phineas kindly let me enter his picture and had told me that Harry has elves that have been popping between Grimmauld and Hogwarts. He also told me of the lockdown wards so this is a great base for you three. Let Ron know when he wakes up too. Anyway Harry could you get all your elves to pop to the headmaster's office of Hogwarts. I will direct them from my picture there.

* * *

Voldemort waited fifteen minutes since he got the last signal of a stinging curse and told the crone Burke had provided to enter the vanishing cabinet. The interior lit with spell light and on opening the door the crone was gone. He re-closed the door and waited until the spell light was illuminated once more from around the door frame and the crone opened the door and came back.

"It is a room of junk, piled floor to ceiling as far as I can see. Most is broken but there are brooms, books, furniture. If you want more detail you'll need to use his pensive over there as I couldn't see anything worth calling out." The crone informed him. She had been pressured into using the vanishing cabinet and not daft enough to not know she could die. Evidently she was the guinea pig for this experiment and having survived hoped she could now leave with her daughters. She wasn't going to ask why Voldemort wanted to visit a junk storage room.

"That will do, release the three of them Burke. As I said here are your galleons." Voldemort informed the crone and handed over a small pile of coins. Burke relocked the door after the three witches had left.

"I will be gone for a few minutes." He then stepped into the vanishing cabinet and closed the door. Re-opening and stepping out into the room of hidden things.

He calmed down when he saw his horcrux. He had been increasingly nervous but the diadem was present. It was exactly where he had left it, and his horcrux was undamaged. Voldemort picked it up and moved to the exit door. He propped it open with a nearby box and crossed the hallway to look down on the grounds through the window. He smiled at the chaos below.

The warders that had been working on Hogwarts wards were dying, killed by curses or slain by the giant spiders. The outer sections of the school were in ruins. Walking to the seventh floor's closest stair well from the room of hidden things he pointed his wand at the main floor beneath him and cast fiendfyre. Voldemort smiled reveling in his power as he swept the cursed flames into the opening that led down into the dungeons. It was intoxicating to watch the animal shaped flames climb toward the second floor while they raced and gambled with each other along the corridors of the first.

Backing toward his propped door he willingly released control of the spell. He felt it hungering to reach the seventh floor to burn the creator that had deliberately lost control of them. However, he was already closing the door to the room of lost things and heading back to use the vanishing cabinet before the flames got half way between the fifth and sixth floors.

On return to Burke's shop he signaled through Burke's mark to end the attack. Barely acknowledging Burke he was on his way back to Malfoy manor right after. His prize was hidden but safe with him. Now he had to think of a better hiding spot.

* * *

"Harry, Voldemort has cast fiendfyre I need you to allow the Hogwarts house elves through your wards bringing the prior headmasters' portraits and other essential things that must not be lost." Dumbledore told Heather.

Heather started calling house elf names that could enter the wards as the ones arriving provided new names. She had quickly decided that all the portraits were going up in the attic. She had given up getting the headmaster to call her Heather. At least he had stopped calling her, ' _Harry my boy_ ' but he refused to use the female pronouns for her along with any name but Harry. Claiming that ' _he should honor his parents with the name they gave him_ '. It didn't help that having been hurt last evening with the locket that had not wounded Harry. She had been questioning whether she had made herself weaker by embracing the new female version of herself. Wondering if perhaps she no longer had the power the prophecy had given Harry to defeat Voldemort. Being so worried already she didn't need the possibly justified recriminations from Dumbledore.

She knew you weren't supposed to think ill of the dead but the headmaster was quickly approaching the limit of Heather's tolerance. The disappointment he had showered upon her when he found out the third bed mate wasn't Ron was unneeded. Luna had given up pretending to sleep as the Hogwarts invasion on their abode had caused the surplus flood of items from their now overstuffed suite to spill out into the rest of the fourth floor. The headmaster would not let the topic that Harry should be with Ron go.

Belaboring how Ron was the thing Harry feared losing the most in the tri-wizard tournament. Refusing to listen to Heather screaming that it was Dumbledore who chose Ron not her. Heather had no idea how the headmaster thought that Ron and Harry would be good for each other. Sure he had been Harry's best mate. However, she knew that she had no interest while Harry. That lack of interest had not changed now that she was Heather. If anything since the whole word association game, Ron she realized was a good mate to goof off with, but not a best mate. Hermione and Luna were her best mates, and girlfriends.

Well she had got more than rather annoyed when Dumbledore ignored her opinion. However, it had taken Luna and Hermione joining in before Dumbledore allowed the subject of Ron to be shelved, currently. Heather knew he didn't believe them and was bidding his time to attack once more on this issue later. So as soon as they had rescued everything they could, all portraits were heading to the attic. She couldn't believe she had thought she missed the headmaster. She plainly needed her head examined.

Unfortunately, even with the topic of Ron dropped the headmaster immediately found something else to push her buttons on. It probably didn't help that he had immediately started harping on the male pronoun within the prophecy and that 'he' would likely have to be Harry to fulfil it. Considering how previously he had said she didn't need to have the prophecy dictate her life, but as Voldemort cared about it she couldn't ignore it. She could see the new tune and question if Dumbledore's greater good was also for Heather's greater good.

She was sure that Dumbledore had never planned to allow her to escape the prophecy. He was likely worried she had found a way to negate it. I mean she could hang out behind lockdown wards with Luna, Hermione and their parents and let the wizarding world destroy itself. It had more than once attacked her. Why did she have to bail them out? She was rapidly approaching the point of finding paint thinner to use on his portrait when it arrived. She had forgotten how angry the old coot could get her.

* * *

Voldemort was imagining the headlines in tomorrow's paper. Hogwarts was gutted, ruined, destroyed. He had Nagini and the diadem safely beside him. He knew that even with just these two he was immortal. The loss of only seven low level death eaters was worth the fear that would cripple the wizarding world. He had planned on having to accept greater losses than the seven. It was a total victory. The so called safe Hogwarts destroyed in less than an hour. Let the wizarding world panic. He Lord Voldemort would be an immortal god deciding who would live and die.

"Bellatrix the item I gave to you for safe keeping. You do have it safe, yes?"

"My Lord the cup is still safely stored in my vault in Gringotts." Bellatrix replied from her bowed position.

Voldemort wondered where to keep his three horcrux. Should he make three more? Could he make more? It might have been that he made his sixth, the snake, just after he had regained a body that had made it so much more painful to make than the earlier ones. Or he might have reached the limit of the number you could make. If Malfoy hadn't squandered the diary for an attempt of political gain, that even failed, he would have only been down two not half of them. The snake should stay beside him but what of the diadem and cup?

Suddenly realizing that he had 'crucio'd' Malfoy for an unknown length of time he dropped the curse. He didn't want to lose the political savvy of Lucius as an asset within the Ministry halls. Even if his son was as cunning as his father, which he didn't appear to be, the younger Malfoy would never accomplish the same results because no one would respect a young child like they would an experienced adult.

Nagini slithered forward. " _Dinner?_ " she hissed hopefully.

" _Not now he still has some use for me left._ " Voldemort hissed back.

"Bellatrix I want you to bring the item I gave you back to me. It better not be damaged." He told her. Voldemort noting the manic devotion within her eyes felt slightly disturbed that she was not adequately cowed. At least the rest of the death eaters were sufficiently fearful of receiving the same punishment Lucius got.

"I also want all my death eaters here at ten in the morning. Bellatrix get your sister to take care of her husband. Now leave me." Voldemort headed for the master suite to get some sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

The Quadruple

 _Previously_

 _In leaving Croaker came through again when Augusta didn't want Neville to have dinner. Unfortunately, the help was only half good and half annoying. Where she had been planning to arrange the dinner in the future, Croaker had caused it to happen this evening. Now she couldn't search for Moody as she had planned, but must get a dinner organized and get the Abbot's and their daughter Hanna invited._

Last night's meal even if thrown together at the last second had been a success. Seeing Hannah and Neville stumbling and blushing as they discussed their hopes for their futures, and it was clear to all present that the two were besotted with each other. She had never before witnessed the angry side of Hannah, but that badger had sharp claws and teeth and she was furious with Neville's grandmother. The Abbotts were happy in what they had seen so far in Neville, it helped that he was oblivious to the tempting her niece had undertaken through the meal until Hannah had put a stop to it. Though shy he was incapable of not constantly zeroing in on Hannah during the evening.

The discussion had been mainly centered on herbology, as the Abbots ran a market gardening business that grew a wide range of potion ingredients. It placed Neville in a comfortable setting to showcase his knowledge and enabled him to come alive as he discussed his interest, desires and dreams. Amelia also noted that Neville had been correct on both knowing that Hannah was interested in the subject, and her niece clearly was not. After Neville and the Abbotts had left she only had to cheer up her niece that was slightly despondent that her best friend looked like she had found a great wizard while she hadn't. She also was unused to being left out of the conversation. Susan was the more gregarious of the two friends and she had found herself in a different dynamic this evening.

This morning was not going so well. She should be being sworn into office in the Wizengmot shortly. However, arriving early she had swung by the sub-department for Probate Heritage Contract Agreements and Taxes and discovered Neville and Heather's betrothal agreement was already active. So she was here instead, trying to find out if it was a mistake that Prima Black could fix or if Heather truly had already accepted it.

Now having avoided four of the five traps her paranoid ex-employee had on his property she was going to knock on his door. As she had tripped one trap he already knew she was here. Probably watched her fix the damage, but he would be waiting to see if she acted enough like herself to be herself. She quickly stilled the dangerous paranoia that nearly had her questioning if she had acted sufficiently enough as her own self. The door cracked open a smidge.

"Bones, third year, Hogsmeade visit before valentine's day who did you kiss and where?"

"Moody that was years ago don't you think you should ask a more current question?"

"Nope, I know you know this and you're too public for current questions to be secure."

"Fine I think the whole school thought I kissed Michael Thompson as he said we did. I have no idea on the where seen as I didn't kiss him and the rumors that spread round school listed numerous different places. Do you want the name of my then current boyfriend I went to Hogsmeade with that believed the lies that had expanded from the initial kiss and broke up the day before valentines too? I am sure it will make me feel happy remembering certain school days I'd rather have forgotten Moody."

"Nope that is fine, your question?"

"Can you get me to tell Heather Black she has a filed marriage contract agreement already active on her full name with Neville Longbottom that he and the Abbotts need her to stall so they can file their own between Hannah Abbot and Neville?"

"I meant your security question and no one knows Mistress Black's full name."

"I checked PHAT this morning and there is a filed marriage contract agreement that went active at twenty-one-o-six last night for Neville Frank Longbottom and Heather Jabbah Black. If you are Moody you can get me in contact with Heather Black and that answers my most important security concern right now. So my security question is you supplying Heather Black."

"Damn! Bones I will be back shortly. Kreacher."

"All-seeing-one-eye calls Kreacher."

"Emergency I need to come through the lockdown wards."

Kreacher vanished then seconds later returned and next both Moody and Kreacher were gone.

Bones stood in front of the cracked open front door. She was not going to enter. Who knows how many traps were inside? To be fair he had been abducted from his own house a few years ago, against his usual paranoid protections. So he was likely justified in increasing to insane level. Didn't mean she was going to try to enter though. No she stood and tried not to laugh over Moody's new name. He sounded like a pirate fortune teller. He did already have the peg leg. Should she buy him a parrot or a crystal ball? Well she had her next security question for the paranoid lunatic.

"You still outside Bones?" Moody called opening the door. Behind him she saw the house elf, Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood. "I brought them as proof that we are going to see Heather Black seen as I could pop you anywhere if I was pretending to be Moody. So your security question was not as clever as you thought. Well get over here and we will go back over the lockdown wards."

The first thing Amelia saw was a second Hermione and she was drawing both her wands without even thinking.

"I am under polyjuice for safety." Said the Hermione she had travelled here with, and Luna started giggling. She didn't think her nearly cursing several children was a funny event.

Putting her wands away and relaxing she looked at Granger one. "Heather Jabbah Black. I assume?" Amelia inquired. "So how much of an hour do I have to wait 'till I see the real you?"

"Better show how you really look lassie so she quickly understands why you can't stop the marriage agreement." Moody told Heather.

Then an orange furred cat blend with the initial Hermione looking girl was stood before her, and she was imagining Black and a cat and she screamed. "That despicable…

"No that's not possible, is it?"

Heather looked affronted. Moody was laughing loudly at her and Luna had been brought down to her knees with tears in her eyes and was giggling hysterically.

Heather gritted her teeth. "I deliberately took polyjuice potion with a mature half kneazle hair to get around the trace. It locks in the polyjuice beyond the usual one hour limit. Actually it is locked in until you allow a healer to cure you. They need to wait at least a year as the transformation is a shock to the body and you shouldn't undo it until the body has had the year to recover.

"Unfortunately I didn't just get a hair from the kneazle but also one from my best friend Hermione. So when I cast the glamour I look like the identical twin of Hermione Granger." Heather then recast the glamour becoming Hermione once more.

"So as a part creature you don't have the legal power to overturn the agreement dowager Longbottom put into play. You're going to have to make concessions to house Abbot and house Longbottom to take the consort option and maintain your Black name." Amelia informed Heather. "First I can guarantee that dowager Longbottom will demand fidelity to her Grandson at a minimum for allowing the consort option and keeping your last name Black. Is there another wizard you are interested in that would preclude you from allowing that?"

Heather just stared at Madam Bones in horror.

"Does it apply to witches too?" Hermione interrupted Amelia's gaze upon a non responsive Heather.

Amelia looked at Hermione and a newly serious Luna and realized that the problem was evidently not another wizard. It would seem Black was involved with the two present witches. "No our society only cares about the purity of a witch from other wizards they don't acknowledge there can be anything between two witches.

"Now the Abbots would want their family safe behind these wards…

"And what would you want of me?" Heather angrily challenged. "What if I just let the wizard world destroy itself? Stay back here with those important to me behind these impenetrable lockdown wards. While the wizarding world that has killed my parents, persecuted me and mine, maligned, constantly demanded from me and ridiculed me, self destructs. Why should I not just wait 'till magic can't impose any more upon me as your corrupt society implodes."

Amelia was not expecting such a bitter angry retort and looking between the adults and children none present were in disagreement to the vitriol spouted. "Heather, patriarchal society, unless you think the magic world will be destroyed in slightly over three months, then even hiding here you will still end up married and for ignoring your husband, he will have control of the wards. So not only could he then come here but he could refuse to let you leave. Your sanctuary would become your prison if you are unwilling to work out a compromise with him. Now aside finding that we had locked your innocent father up in Azkaban… The wizarding world only found out about you less than two days ago surely we have not been able to malign and ridicule you constantly in a mere two days that you want us destroyed."

"Black you need to tell her or I will just use your other name." Moody stated.

Heather looked at Amelia with pain filled eyes. Hermione and Luna grabbed hold of each side of her their love concern and worry clearly etched upon their faces in support of her. No matter what, she had them. They would be with her even if she chose to let the magic world die. "I am Heather Black, but was born Harry James Potter." Heather told the stunned witch.

"That is not possible." Amelia shakily declared. "You cannot be both. If you were still Harry Potter then the marriage agreement would not take as it would not have accepted Heather Jabbah Black as your name. If the new name is yours then Harry James Potter would be listed dead, and he is not. You cannot have two magically viable names concurrently."

"According to the Black tapestry upstairs I can. I have both names. Admittedly it is confused on Heather's birthday." Heather replied.

"Can I see it?"

Amelia stared at the tapestry with both names and took her time thinking what this could mean. Magic seemed happy thinking there were two different individuals. "I wander what is important about September nineteenth nineteen-seventy-nine."

"It is my birthday." Hermione said. "I was more curious with the two that are in nineteen-ninety-seven myself."

Amelia thought for a while and then started grinning. It would be best for Heather to stabilize her own birthday though. "Moody do you agree Heather should stabilize her own birthday?" she asked.

"Aye, it is not good that magic is in flux on her birth but what date should she chose?"

"Heather I don't know if you know this but Neville's mother, who unfortunately is unresponsive in the longterm spell damage ward of St. Mungo's, is Harry Potter's godmother. Though magic appears to see two different people there should be sufficient bleed through that the dowager Longbottom's forced marriage contract upon Alice's son and god child that neither want, will force a cost upon Augusta. She stated the agreement with the minimum ninety days engagement and all months agreements go into force at end of month. That means this agreement has a forced wedding date of October thirty-first. If it is seen that not only does the agreement come with the minimum engagement time but it was also your birthday meaning she didn't know her grandson's fiancée it would let everyone know she forced this on you and will bring you public support. More importantly you would reap a benefit from magic, a boon."

"No everything bad happens to me on that day. I lost my parents on that day. Every year something terrible occurs on that day. I have a heads up on what is planned for this year. I will not have that as my birthday." Heather declared.

"All the more reason to choose that day then, and there are a further two more good reasons in addition to changing your fortune for the better and informing to all that the dowager didn't even know your birthday when she penned the agreement. First reason to select that day is that it will remove most if not all the bad luck from continuing. So you remove a known weakness. This would be your last bad luck on October thirty-first, and as you stated you now know ahead of time so nothing worse could happen this or any subsequent year on that day.

"The next is that it is a date within Scorpio's zodiac justifying the middle name that actually might have something to do with magic seeing two people. Lastly as an engagement gift the dowager chose a necklace with a Topaz which is November's stone. She gambled on the greater number of days of Scorpio being in November. To have her miss by one day it should give you a larger boon. In other words though you are being punished you would obtain a debt from magic. With Voldemort after you specifically, a boon is the sort of scale tipping event that would enable your survival. Actually being forced to marry against your will on your own birthday should make the boon stronger. Magicals do not marry on their own birthdays."

"Heather it is very good advice. You have the chance to remove a weakness. The magic of your birth should negate at least most if not all of the bad luck you have with this day. I agree that you should think of Heather's birthday as October thirty-first." Moody stated before turning back to Amelia. "What do you mean about Jabbah being the possible source of magic seeing Harry and Heather as separate individuals?"

"I thought of it while trying to work out the how the tapestry didn't list Harry as dead. However, it was knowledge I learned when I looked up information on 'Jabbah'. When I saw the contract I thought the name was wrong because all Black's have a star name. It was then I found that Jabbah is a quadruple star in the Scorpios constellation. It had been a star I was not familiar with.

"Now, Moody had stated earlier no one knew Heather's full name, which originally seemed strange. Now I think you chose multiple middle names, likely one each and not telling each other after Neville warned you of the agreement. Did you choose middle names that were stars or constellations?"

Amelia looked around the room and saw that none had thought of the Black custom to have names from the stars. "That is how Augusta trumped your multiple names. She likely got the middle initial 'J' from Neville, while he was thinking of Harry's middle name and wrote a contract with all the stars starting with the letter 'J' as a middle name, until one took.

"Having seen 'Jabbah' work she guessed your birthday to be in November. What I am thinking is that as Jabbah is a quadruple star or a double-double star it allows magic to think of you as multiple people. A Binary star like Polaris is not considered a multiple. Multiple's start as three star systems and go up but most are three stars or triples, there are few named stars at the quadruple and higher multiple. Now I am completely guessing but I think each of your two individualities has been awarded a binary of the quadruple Jabbah."

Madam Bones kept quiet of another benefit of associating with the zodiac Scorpio as Heather had expressed dissatisfaction against the magical world and likely wouldn't appreciate that the Scorpios constellation was in the Mars Parthenon. It was appropriate though as being 'of the God of War' was known for making powerful warriors which would be a benefit to the magical world needing a hero, well heroine. Among the other strengths like being durable in love, was a weakness toward marriage. Being forced to marry one they could never love that would be a weak marriage. No she should definitely keep these other ideas to herself.

"So the necklace should have had an opal for the month of October?" Hermione inquired thinking of ideas for suitable gifts later.

"Actually magicals use tourmaline as the stone's magic abilities have numerous uses. Admittedly the amount in a ring is not going to do much but it is a symbol of magic. The stone tourmaline is used within ward schemes, or to encourage growth of magical plants amongst its varied usage. Due to that we don't think of opal as the birth stone." Amelia replied.

"So how do I do this?" Heather asked and pointing at her name on the tapestry.

Moody answered. "Point your wand at the blinking dates and say 'I Heather Jabbah Black was born on October thirty-first nineteen-eighty."

"Don't say the year." Amelia interjected grabbing Heather before she could draw her wand.

"Why the blazes should she not!" Exclaimed Moody.

"Oh I am expecting something magical." Amelia replied.

"Bones I need to know the reason. I thought I could trust you to have Heather's best interest at heart but now I am not so sure." Moody answered and had pulled his wand on her.

"Fine I am guessing it will chose nineteen eighty-five which will maximize the boon. The average of those four birthdays years would be about nineteen eighty-eight but that would render this agreement void. This agreement chose Heather's middle name by your statement that the name appeared last night at about nine in the evening. Magically you were completely born last night, the final fourth element. The prior three were Hermione's birthday, as Heather is her identical twin, Harry's original birthday and the day he drank the polyjuice potion.

"I don't think magic would render one of the four cornerstones of Heather's creation void so it will choose a year that is closest to eighty-eight that the agreement would not be void. A witch can marry at twelve, no one has done this in years but the law is there. So I'm expecting eighty-five and a significant boon owed.

"Why doesn't Heather use a different star middle name and the year eighty-eight to render this agreement void and not have to marry Neville?" Luna asked.

"Mum Dad, can you chose me a star middle name?" Heather requested.

"It should be a quadruple star just in case." Amelia said.

"I think Capella is but it might be a quintuple. It is a multiple star though and not just a triple." Dad offered.

"Dan wasn't Capella the name of a girlfriend of yours?" Emma calmly inquired.

"Emma, I am not naming our daughter after an ex-girlfriend, I am using the knowledge I have available from life to help our daughter not have to marry someone she is not in love with." Dan explained. "Now some think Capella was a Titan nymph of music prior to Zeus upturning the applecart and starting the Greek Parthenon. It is a four or five star system. This is knowledge I have and how I learned it surely is not as important as that it is pertinent to solve our dilemma."

"Good enough for me." Heather said then drew her wand "I Heather Capella Black was born on October thirty-first nineteen eighty-eight."

A/N - I want to thank my reviewers I appreciate every one both those stating what they like and those warning where the story might be going bad. If your not logged in I can't thank you though so consider this my general thank you to the ones I couldn't directly reply to. I need to go one step further and point out where I am using something inspired by the reviewer Cenright, thank you for reminding me that Alice was Harry's godmother and being pertinent - It gave my muse a few ideas to run along with. I also want to thank the reviewer MilandaAnza that has been a great help / sounding board of potential ideas through PM's and has given me confidence and left me laughing quite often. I appreciate your time and comments and hope I don't tick you off - well too much. -waves- Trengilly


	16. Chapter 16

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Wanted

Croaker and the team that had been on active coverage of Bones, waited disillusioned around Moody's property. He was getting his feed from the charms on Bones' clothing and boy was he getting a ton of information. Dumbledore evidently had been right in how critical Potter, or rather the witch Black now, was to removing Voldemort and the death eater problems from them. He wished he had a way across the lockdown wards.

The ideas that Potter or Granger dreamed up were more intriguing than the ones the research department thought to look into. They could add whole new fields of magic. Bypassing the trace where none had even thought that the trace might not actually be linked to the seventeenth birthday. Then there was to ability of managing to get him or rather herself two viable magic names. Would that enable a loop hole against the unbreakable vow? If he had agents use this along with a quadruple star's name could he create deep cover agents with multiple aliases?

Perhaps he could get himself added as part of the compromise contract agreement allowing Black the consort option. He wanted to test these three witches, train them even. He was confident his department would benefit from them. He knew that Potter hated attention. Well when, as it had to be 'when' for their world's survival and not 'if', they had beaten Voldemort they could let Potter take all the fame. Then Heather Black could live her life free from the fame and social circus that she despised. He had known he would not be able to get Potter into the unspeakables. Thanks to Heather he now could.

* * *

On the tapestry the date stabilized and the name changed. "Does this mean the marriage contract agreement is voided?" Heather hopefully asked. Thinking as hard as she could that they would let her know it was. I mean she wasn't Heather Jabbah Black any longer according to the tapestry so even if it did list her birthday as October thirty-first nineteen-eighty-four verses the hoped for eighty eight shouldn't the agreement not be valid as it didn't list her new full name nor the year eighty-five. Now her name was 'Heather ' _Capella_ ' Jabbah Black'. She was concerned that the 'Capella' was in quotes and italics though.

"It is almost definitely still active." Madam Bones replied. "The name 'Capella' is an added name, slightly more legal than a nickname but unnecessary for legal documents. The easiest way to explain this as you were muggle raised, yes that should work. I believe in the muggle world when a child finishes the religious training to be confirmed they often add a name. This name would have as much legal standing as a confirmation name."

Heather looked over to her mum and dad hoping they could say something helpful.

"If it is like a conformation name then it has no legal standing whatsoever." Mum unfortunately told her. "They are not required as part of any legal documentation. Why is the year eighty-four and not eighty-five as you expected?"

"Maybe the birthdays of the two, namely of Harry and Hermione had more weight than the date of the contract and date of drinking the polyjuice potion. Or possibly as our law requires the agreement in place for a minimum of ninety days prior to the wedding, magic actually requires the witch to be twelve when the agreement goes active not just be twelve on the day of the wedding. The other possibility is that magic is a complete stickler and has the time twenty-one-o-six on the thirty first as your birthday and as a marriage ceremony is done before the sun sets you would still be eleven at the time of the wedding. Even if the wedding was on your birthday if the year was eighty-five." Madam Bones replied trying to puzzle it out.

"There is good news though. I can force Augusta to allow several years until the marriage has to be consummated as the bride is only just thirteen on her wedding day. This would enable you after the year waiting period, to be able to have the spell cast that would return you to Harry.

"I am unsure with the quadruple if Heather would then be listed as having died. More likely just as both names now are viable, both would still be. Once Heather is Harry he could be in a relationship with the witches he desires. Neville would be happy with his wife Hannah. Even if there were bleed through back to Harry from Heather it would only prevent Harry from being with another wizard." Amelia informed them. She kept quite that if Augusta demanded a son with the consort contract and Heather was still considered an alternate identity of Harry that she might not have the option to avoid the contract completely. It was pointless to worry about what might or might not be. Especially to worry now as it would not become something needing immediate attention if she could delay it for a few years.

"I sort of prefer being Heather." Heather quietly stated. Inside she still didn't believe magic could force this on her. She had enjoyed escaping the whole boy-who-lived, but suddenly the grass was not looking greener. Her half-kneazle side made it hard to not just enjoy the fun of the moment. However, the half of her that was girl was worried. Could her amazing girlfriends help her or was this beyond them? The gnawing worry made her withdraw into herself.

"Well you will have to decide if you prefer Heather enough to be Neville's consort. I will only be able to get a delay of a few years from the required consummation of the marriage." Amelia stated.

"Seven years." Luna declared. "It is a nice magical number and would ensure the witch was completed with schooling. It will give Heather plenty of time to decide what she wants to do. Plus time for us to hopefully find a loophole to get out of everything. Also the Abbots and Neville's grandmother are not to know that Heather was Harry. They should truly believe that Heather Black is twelve but took the polyjuice to avoid the trace and accidently got one of Hermione's hairs too."

"They will wonder where Harry is." Amelia told Luna. "What of Hannah and Susan, they will feel hurt if you keep this secret from them? Even if they don't know what the secret is they will know you are keeping something from them, especially as they never see Harry with you."

"We will get the Black wards to only allow the three of us access to the attic. We will state he is busy fighting and operating out of the attic where he has his own exit. Harry always was rather anti-social and if we only allow Hannah and Susan access to our fourth floor and keep everyone else on the lower three floors then it should work without forming suspicion." Luna said.

Hermione had been unable to talk and let Luna take the lead. It wasn't fair. Heather finally escaped all the garbage associated with Harry's life only for this to occur. Why hadn't she remembered about the Black naming convention. She had even mentioned it as important to magical names. Would Heather forgive her. Trying to appease Madam Bones so she could start researching a solution she offered a compromise. "As we get to know Hannah and Susan we can decide if we want to include them and if we do then they, Neville, my parents and you should be able to keep down the suspicion of the others. In fact we might not even need to include the girls." Hermione stated.

"I hope you do include them, they will know they are being left out other wise and feel imprisoned as they have to be in this house but you are keeping something secret from them." Amelia almost begged. "I think with them you could keep the others in the dark without any suspicion."

"Talking about suspicious where are all the portraits? There are now none in the hallways except Sirius's Mother. With my eye I see all the rooms are without them and they had them last time I was here." Professor Moody inquired.

"You've taken down the wizard portraits? They're a line of defense. They alert you to trouble in another area of the house." Madam Bones incredulously declared. "What have you done with them?"

"They're all in the attic except Sirius's mum that is in the entry foyer with a curtain covering her. Even though Kreacher fully accepts me as mistress of the house none of us can take down her portrait. I was thinking of having the wall knocked down." Heather guiltily told her.

"They are not really there. It is an impression of the person that is good for advice and helps with grieving a loved one lost and provides warnings. Do you think you are being watched, spied on?" Amelia tried to understand their aversion to wizard portraits.

"No until last night I only wanted to get rid of Sirius's mum. Unfortunately after last night's attack on Hogwarts we inherited a lot of portraits and stuff from Hogwarts. I had been sleeping apparently with a prior Headmaster, Phineas Black, in my bedroom and he wanted to get everything he could out of Hogwarts and behind the lockdown wards. The new residents are a bit pushy especially the ones that lost their portrait in Hogwarts and had to piggyback off a friend. Those blame me for not getting their picture out." She failed to mention it was actually Dumbledore that requested the aid from Phineas's portrait and left out that all seemed to allow Dumbledore into their frames, who tried to force her to listen to him. In fact the only portrait she had that refused Dumbledore to enter her frame was Sirius's mum.

"So you have the sleeping portrait of Dumbledore, can you let me know when he wakes up? I need to talk to him." Moody asked.

"I will let you know when he is finally awake the first time that I next see him and he is." Heather stated, she wasn't technically lying, but she definitely wanted all contracts finalized before anyone spoke to Dumbledore. She didn't put it past the wizard to get her married to Ron or he managed to force her to be Harry or both. The magical world seemed to do whatever Dumbledore told them to do and she wasn't going to risk it. She would take being a consort to Neville and having to provide him a son before she would let Dumbledore dictate anything more in her life.

"As we have discovered that it was easy for Heather to be tied to a marriage by contract. Do we need to worry about Hermione and Luna?" Mum asked, not happy that her baby seemed stuck being a consort at minimum and worried for the other two girls. The magical world seemed barbaric. Luna had suggested they search for a loop hole. She hoped they could find one in those seven years.

"As long as they don't sign and agree to anything like accepting gifts accompanying legal documentation they don't have to worry. They don't have the partial creature problem that removes legal rights." Amelia stated and then saw two Siamese half-kneazle girls where Luna and Hermione had been before.

"Why? Luna your trace was recorded inactive last December and Hermione yours was recorded inactive before that. Why did you take the polyjuice potion too?"

As Luna replied "Best fish dinner ever." A comment that made absolutely no sense, Hermione replied. "Solidarity," her answer really was not that much better. It seemed to inspire Heather to drop her glamour though so all three were in their current half cat true forms.

"Augusta owes you for what she has done I will see if I can get a seven year consort option engagement with Neville that either side can chose to opt out of so you are protected from a more demanding contract and after becoming fully human can have it cancelled.

"Could we have the agreement let us take the last name Black? Then we could think of ourselves as married to each other." Hermione asked.

Madam Bones looked at Luna who nodded that she liked the idea then looked at the Grangers. "Do you agree with that? I could have the options on both cancelling being a consort and cancelling the name change to Black be separate options so they could chose to opt in or out of either or both during the seven year engagement. Once it is filed no later filed contract could be forced on either girl. If you do accept the name Black do not drop the consort option until you are fully human. Because as Black's you are worth more as you provide access to the lockdown wards so you must be fully human or under another contract to a wizard so you are not forced into a contract like Heather was."

The doctors looked at each other and then at the girls. "I think it is a good idea." Dan stated with his wife agreeing. It would protect the other two so they could concentrate on getting Heather out of trouble.

"So we're like half identical twin kneazle sisters and each other's' wife, yes?" Luna asked and after getting confirmation she tackled the other two into a pile on the drawing room floor. Her energetic force in addition to the other two's surprise enabling her to bring down both the taller girls at the same time. A ball of orange white and black rolled around the feet of the adults. Luna then started tickling both of them which might not have been a good idea. Hermione between gasps looked at Heather and they came to an agreement and ganged up on the smaller girl.

"Right, well you want to restrict access of the fourth floor to the girls and your parents, and the attic to just you three, correct?" Madam Bones asked after the rambunctious teenagers finally stopped for a breather and waiting for the nods as they stood up straightening their respective clothing. "So do you know the spells to key parts of the house to specific signatures?" having got three negatives she said. "Well let me show on this door frame as it is easiest. Note where you start and stop is the keyhole so on a door frame I recommend starting where the latch will be when the door is closed.

"There are three words to the incantation and you want to say them evenly and time it so that you are finishing the third word as you are returning to the starting point. Of course a circle is easiest but most of the times the openings like a doorway are rectangular. When rectangular you should try to imagine your spell going into the walls or wood railings so the opening is within your imagined larger circle though you traced the rectangular opening with your wand.

"The larger the opening the more magic you want to push into the spell. Now my spell will limit all magicals except Heather as this house is hers and she can trump any area that was limited by another. Now as Hermione's parents are muggles they will not even notice the spell and can cross it with no problem. If you want to restrict them from the attic then you are going to need a muggle repelling ward and I will teach you that later as it is harder." She didn't add she was going to talk to the Grangers' first to see if they wanted to allow the girls to create an area that excluded them.

Madam Bones took out her wand and pointing at the open door frame where the handle of the door would be when closed she traced the rectangular opening saying, "Praecano veneficium magus". The door frame glowed blue for a few seconds before dimming.

"Now I can walk through this opening." Amelia stepped into the hallway and back into the room. "Your parents can too." She indicated to the two Doctors and both walked out and re-entered. "Hermione want to try." Hermione found herself stopped a few feet away from the door way. "Now having cast the spell you add the people that you want to allow by pointing at the keyhole and casting the next spell and holding it to allow the one you are adding to approach and cast the same spell on the keyhole.

"Heather, guess what?" Luna suddenly said interrupting Madam Bone's lesson as she had just thought something interesting.

"You're the youngest so you need to listen to your older and smarter wives. I am three years eight and half months older than you. I am not the youngest any more you are." Luna continued before getting any response from Heather. To show her maturity she proceeded to stick her tongue out at Heather.

"I am sorry Madam Bones. Luna you are behaving as the youngest and rudely interrupting Madam Bones. So behave while we are learning this ward." Hermione scolded Luna.

"Thank you Hermione. So if Hermione you have your wand ready there is no wand movement you are just going to approach after I unlock the entry so you can point your wand also at the keyhole so its tip is about two to eight inches away. And say the same thing that I say. "Patitur." A pale yellow light went from the wand to the keyhole and Hermione found she could now approach and cast the same spell. "Now Hermione should be able to enter and exit." Hermione happily found she could.

"As Heather is the owner of the house she can push against the feeling that tells her she needs to stop and will cancel my spell. I recommend either Luna or Hermione practice casting the spell to ensure it is where you want it. If it is exactly in the right place then add Heather to it. If it is incorrectly placed you can have Heather approach and she will be able to cancel the incorrectly placed spell. This way you don't need to hire a ward breaker to bring down your mistaken sealed entry points. Well unless you have already added Heather before you realize it isn't where you want it.

"You should also note this spell tends to want to follow wood or stone. So on a stair well you are best to start from the top of the newel post of the banister, follow it down to the floor, along the floor in front of the stairs to the wall, and up the wall to the ceiling, along the ceiling until back above the newel then finally through the air to the top of the newel. The top of the newel is a fairly obvious keyhole, and the section through the air was done last. The section through the air is the weakest and will tend to flap a bit. You can also instead of doing the vertical barrier at the foot of the stairs do a horizontal one around the hole the stairs cut through to get to the next floor. Just remember to do the sections of air last and try to have an obvious keyhole to enable the ability to add more people later."

"So while you are practicing that and setting up the barriers can I be allowed to leave the lockdown wards so I can talk to everyone and get all the contracts formalized. Also is your floo connected?" Amelia asked.

"Yes my floo is connected for outbound traffic only. Kreacher," Heather called. "I need you to listen for Amelia. When she calls your name I need you to bring me to her."

"Yes Mistress, should I start preparing rooms?"

"Thank you Kreacher, please do that. Have the Hogwarts house elves help you get all the rooms fixed up. Is Dobby still taking care of Winky?"

"Dobby is; Winky will need a few more days to get better." Kreacher replied before leaving.

"You are providing the magic for all of the Hogwarts house elves, Heather?" Amelia asked stunned.

"No apparently the lockdown wards provide them more magic than Hogwarts gave them. I only have one or possibly two house elves drawing from me." Heather answered, then seeing the confusion. "I've never got a straight answer from Dobby on whether he is bonded to me or truly can survive as a free elf where none of the others seem to be able too. As Heather I am not his favorite person so I haven't asked recently."

"Well I need to get going and get the additional agreements put together. Heather if you would force yourself out of the drawing room it will pull down the ward I placed on the door. Then if you show me to the floo I will leave."

Heather forced her way through the door, and confirmed it was gone as there was no longer a pressure to move against and Luna who hadn't been keyed in was able to now freely leave too. They headed downstairs to the kitchen and floo exit.

Amelia threw a pinch of floo powder onto the flames after casting a spell to light the fire in the fireplace. However, the flames did not turn green. "I thought you said the floo was turned on for outbound traffic?" Amelia asked.

"It was working yesterday." Moody told her.

Kreacher suddenly popped in. "Mistress Black, Fang-eared-Wheezy states death eaters are attacking the Ministry."


	17. Chapter 17

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Without a Trace

Thorfinn Rowle was getting nervous their goal had been to get in quickly while their ministerial supporters in various offices brought down the floo network and blocked the other exits. Quickly get into the swearing ceremony, held on the wizengmot floor, for Bones. Where she was to be sworn in as the new War Marshal and kill her, the Minister, and the Head of the Department of Mysteries. After that they were to cause panic. Well they had finally got into the ceremony unfortunately not very quickly and created a panic.

It had been after getting into the wizengmot though that the plan truly collapsed. Not one of the three primary targets was present. Should he cancel the attack or push through to the antechamber to see if they were there and at least maximize on the panic? The problem was that a good number of the people in here were on the Dark Lord's side and the longer they stayed the greater chance of friendly fire taking down their own supporters. Realizing it was not worth staying he indicated they should withdraw.

Unfortunately the insane like Bellatrix ignored the call to withdraw. In fact the named witch had just fired off multiple curses at Dowager Longbottom, destroying her shield and bringing her down. It was at this moment of pure confusion as parts of his forces were withdrawing and others were pressing forward and the rest were milling about confused that the battle changed.

* * *

"Brillit," Heather called the Hogwarts head house elf. "I need to know if the house elves can help get injured people to St. Mungo's out of an active warzone. I need them if they would do this, to do it without taking any unnecessary risks to themselves. They must first and foremost protect themselves as these death eaters will be firing deadly curses."

"Mistress Black these death eaters are same that destroyed our home and would attack your home?" Brillit inquired.

"They follow the same evil wizard, you-know-who. There might be some that destroyed Hogwarts there and all would if told attack this house so you must be very careful. You-know-who might be there or arrive later too."

"Mistress Black can we use magic against them?"

"Yes any death eater wearing the uniform and mask is no longer a wizard or witch they are the lowest of the low. I want you to do whatever you need to protect yourselves. Your safety is most important. Can the Hogwarts house elves help?"

"They are not wizards and witches." The phrase seemed to be a mantra echoing from the other house elves that had arrived while they were talking and sounded rather spooky. "We will. Should we go now?" Brillit asked.

"First know that you must be careful of the wizards and witches not wearing masks too, as some of them are likely on the same side and might help the death eaters. I need a few to pop us there to cover the rest getting the injured to safety." Heather looked at her two loves and getting confirmation they were coming looked to Professor Moody and Madam Bones. "There are five of us so we need to be able to pop in as a group to cover the rest of you getting the injured out."

"Kreacher will pop Mistress Black. Kreacher agree Death eaters and those that help them are not wizards or witches." Kreacher informed Brillit.

Dobby suddenly popped in "Dobby begs forgiveness of Bestest Mistress Black Marm, you's same as Greatest Harry Potter Sir. Dobby thought you tricked and replaced Greatest Harry Potter Sir. Dobby not see same Greatest Bestest because Dobby not looking. Dobby will protect Bestest Mistress Black Marm's Hermy. Any enemy of Bestest Mistress Black Marm's and friends is not wizard or witch."

The Grangers were not happy but realized there was little they could do to stop them. The elves seemed to have rallied around their daughters as if they were generals. The elves seemed quite taken with not wizard or witch phrase. Their daughters were knowingly jumping straight into a warzone. Brillit would pop Luna, and Tilly and Hindy would be popping Moody and Amelia one to each side of the three girls. In the next moment the two doctors along with three elves were the only ones at Grimmauld Place.

* * *

Thorfinn stared incredulously as his attack party was being destroyed by what appeared to be hundreds of house elves. House elves couldn't fire spells at wizards his brain told him. He stood for multiple seconds trying to work out what was going on. It was only the insane witches and wizards that didn't bat an eyelid at the new foe but instead gamely charged forth.

That actually contributed to an even more disorganized retreat. Those that had initiated the retreat were returning to stare at what couldn't happen. They were bumping into the few that had been milling about unsure before that suddenly seeing the true threat wanted to retreat now. The rest of the group that had stood idle remained to do so slack jawed and some even dropping their wand arm. Some were just standing almost as if awaiting their extermination at the hand of house elves that can't do that.

"Its little mudblood one and little copy mudblood two where's baby Potty?" Bellatrix asked of the two Hermione Granger's she was fighting over the fallen dowager Longbottom, prior to said dowager being popped away. The only answer she got was a slew of extremely nasty curse spells that she dodged and shielded against but got hit by one of the spells from one of the accompanying house elves. "Little mudbloods are being naughty learning dark curses now."

Rowle realizing the battle completely lost grabbed hold of the master portkey and activated it forcing all the death eaters to leave the battle. Looking around the Malfoy Ballroom and preparing for the punishment he hoped he would live through he took stock of the returned party. Over a third of the arriving death eaters were corpses and another twenty percent could be joining them shortly.

Amycus was wailing over Alecto's corpse oblivious to his severed right wand arm that would soon see him join her. They hadn't taken out even one of the three primary targets and had sustained a huge number of casualties. Rowle wondered if he should just kill himself now. He was suddenly hit by a crucio spell and his last pain ridden thought was this can't happen the Dark Lord wasn't here yet.

* * *

Having seen all the injured including a very badly wounded dowager that they almost felt sorry they had saved, and seeing the press arriving the three girls had their house elves pop them home. Where upon they were pounced on immediately by two worried parents that needed complete assurance that all three were perfectly fine and had no injuries. Being told once was not enough. Their parents needed to make sure they weren't injured but due to adrenaline not aware they were.

"So before the interruptions we were going to look into finding methods to destroy the horcrux. Mum dad and Heather if you could get started on researching into doing that, Luna and I will practice getting the access restriction wards up. Heather we will call you if we need some broken open or to add you to the good ones." Hermione decided, hoping it would distract their parents from this over concern that was making her uncomfortable. "Luna let's start with warding the Black library."

* * *

The War Marshal had been sworn in less than thirty minutes ago when the attack on the Ministry had just been cleaned up. It was decided only the three of them namely Minister, War Marshal candidate, and the head of the Department of Mysteries were needed so it wouldn't be subject to attack as the initial pomp of ceremony had just been.

So within less than thirty minutes as holder of the office she was abusing the power of her title to demand a sedated, treated, patient be awoken for questioning as soon as she was stable and aside discomfort would not be threatening on the life of the person of interest in an active case.

"Augusta I am not too upset with you being here and so badly injured. I think you deserve it. You have trapped a twelve year old girl to marry your seventeen year old grandson on her thirteenth birthday. Do you feel good in what you have done?" Amelia loudly exclaimed to her old friend while the healer and nursing staff of St. Mungos was busily checking the dowager over. They were now listening to the latest gossip while working.

"What are you talking about?" Augusta requested ready to tear open, upon her friend, for creating a false spectacle.

"Heather Black is twelve. She will be thirteen on October thirty-first, her birthday. In order to get your grubby hands on the Black lockdown wards you initiated a contract with two gifts that the naive young girl that has lost her innocent father, which we incarcerated without a trial that would have found him not guilty, unknowingly accepted. Yes, she lost her innocent father, Sirius Black, and was unaware that by accepting your gifts she accepted a contract to marry your grandson." Madam Bones had already picked up the gifts and planned to give the gifts to Heather later.

"You bought her a topaz gem stone and her birthday is in October. You have used the minimum ninety days so she has to marry your grandson on her birthday, October thirty-first of this year. On the day when she will become thirteen she will be forced by you, to marry a wizard who loves another witch. A wizard she only met once for a couple of hours. You knew nothing about the twelve year old girl except that she had lockdown wards protecting her. Didn't you think she might have earned those lockdown wards because of people like you attacking her? Heather's innocent father was sent to Azkaban, a good wizard who actually fought you-know-who, put there incorrectly by our magical society.

"A society, I should add, where most have done nothing to fight you-know-who. No, instead of that they cursed the hero's name, and threw him into Azkaban without a trial. By doing this they left poor Heather no father to protect her. We the magical society that attacked Heather through incarcerating her innocent father caused the lockdown wards. That wasn't enough though. No, next greedy witches and wizards plotted to use the poor little twelve year old girl for their own gain."

Augusta couldn't stop the tirade, her righteous anger deflated as she realized what she had done. Knowing it was not enough she tried her only defense. "My grandson, Neville thought she was the same age as Hermione, he told me he thought she was seventeen."

"Your grandson also told you he liked Hannah Abbot. He didn't ask you to make a contract with Heather Black. In fact he has a negotiated contract to marry Hannah Abbot that the Abbot's wanted you to sign. As to thinking her seventeen, he told you he met her for the first time on the Hogwarts express journey home. Heather for security reasons was polyjuiced to look like Hermione. She would look the same age as Hermione. Heather appeared the identical twin to Hermione Granger. Of course he would think she was the same age.

"He told you he didn't know anything about her. That he met her for the first time on the train too. Heather Black was also polyjuiced as Hermione Granger when both of them, Harry Potter and their friend Luna Lovegood saved your life from death eaters in the wizengmot. You can be here injured instead of dead because the girl you attacked with a marriage contract just saved your life with her friends.

"You wanted the lockdown wards and worked out a way to trap a twelve year old girl that you knew nothing about. Using your grandson who already had another witch he loves and wanted to marry. You are going to allow me to write a consort option to your cruel contract so one, your grandson can actually marry the witch he loves and two, Heather can stay a Black in respect of her father the hero, Sirius Black and hopefully can find love when she is old enough to even know what love is. She should keep the name Black as just like her father was a hero she is a heroin."

"I will allow the wedding contract between the Abbots and Neville and change mine to the consort bond option but she will not be with another wizard. I want fidelity to my grandson and a Longbottom son and then Black son from Heather and my grandson." Augusta countered.

"You are forcing the twelve year old girl that saved your life to become a brood mare for your grandson. Heather could have seven daughters or more before having the first son for you. How many births before giving you a second son? No, as she is a little girl the marriage will not be consummated for seven years. That gives her time to finish her schooling and so she won't have medical difficulties that could kill her getting pregnant so young. As Hannah will provide you the Longbottom heir you don't need to require a son from Heather."

"I am not a monster of course she can be an adult so the marriage doesn't have to be consummated for seven years unless they choose to do so earlier. My son chose a weak wife I need the strong Black family added back into the Longbottom family. She is obviously strong as at twelve years old she was fighting death eaters. I demand a Longbottom son from Heather which means I require fidelity from her to my son.

"If I am going to be accused of being greedy for the lockdown wards then I also want the Black family to live which it can only do if she has a son to continue the Black name. Shouldn't she want to honor her hero father by providing him a grandson? I am actually doing this for her, as Neville would be the only wizard that could provide the Black family to continue if I didn't allow the change to a consort option. If I kept it the original marriage contract that Heather accepted."

Amelia angrily retorted. "He is the only wizard because you are forcing fidelity on a witch that is too young to even know love, and where your own grandson loves another witch. Further, Heather did not knowingly accept the contract she was cruelly tricked. It is an extremely cruel thing you do and it is selfish. She could keep the Black family alive through her own choice of wizard when older and able to fall in love. She could keep it alive through a daughter also. It doesn't have to be a son.

"The child you want for Longbottom could also be a daughter. Further, I think Hannah is a thousand times the better witch than you. She will provide a better child than you provided a son because she is not you. Neville is better than you because Alice would never do the evil that you have done. With less of you in Neville, Alice made an upgrade birthing your grandson."

Madam Longbottom ignored the attacks on herself for she knew she was better than Alice and Hannah Abbot. "Fine she will provide fidelity to my grandson until she provides him a Longbottom son or three daughters, and she must have at least a son to carry on the name of Black at some point prior to reaching thirty-five years of age. If she has given birth to at least four daughters then she does not have to have a son. However, at least one of the daughters will have to keep the Black name and have a son to carry on the name of Black to the next generation. Of course she will allow Longbottoms access to live behind the lockdown wards for as many generations as the wards are active."

"If I offer to Heather and those she wants of the people living behind the lockdown wards training, can I and some other team members of mine have periodic access behind the lockdown wards too? Could you pass on my request Bones?" Croaker asked. Finally he had managed to catch up with the New War Marshal that had been sworn in by his boss and the Minister whilst he was racing back to the ministry. She had then popped here just as he was entering at the wizengmot and before he had chance to talk to her.

"I will ask her about your request Croaker. I will tell her about both you and your team members." Indicating she would inform Heather of the Department of Mysteries.

"Augusta I will let you rest and start on getting the legal paperwork put together. You do realize you might owe Heather Black a life debt and not be in the driving seat of making demands on the consort option?" Amelia then left the hospital room with the question hanging. She would mention the other two consort options in private later. Once in a quite corridor with no one looking she asked to be popped to just outside the Abbot's.

She would see the Abbotts, her niece and Neville that were spending time here with Hannah, and get all the paperwork updated. She was wondering how Heather would take having to potentially get pregnant and give birth four times, three of which with Neville. It might just be enough for her to decide to be a wizard once more. Of course public pressure once this is printed in the Daily Prophet might force Augusta to reduce her requirements. Could the dowager now owe a life debt to Heather and provide a means for Heather to overturn requirements within the contract she wondered? Ensuring her work bag had Hannah's trace file she grinned. At this rate if she kept removing files. The trace office might have to shut down.


	18. Chapter 18

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Firsts

Having got the ward spell down and the wards placed where they wanted them. They had gone out to muggle London for lunch. Luna had enjoyed the novelty of pizza, something she hadn't eaten before. Heather had played with the food on her plate. She put on a fake smile when questioned and responded with the typical response of ' _I'm fine_ ' that she knew would be challenged by her loves tonight.

She found that embracing the cat aspects of her psyche within allowed her to not worry as much. Unfortunately in muggle London she couldn't drop her glamour and completely let the fur-ball inside have full reign and the cat was currently more interested in playing with its food. Well that and batting the tassels on the restaurant table's lampshade. Where she was beating Hermione, but losing by a landslide to Luna. The ad hoc game they had invented without need to discuss how to play amongst each other. The kids in the table next to them had started swinging at their own lampshade tassels and the children's parents were glaring angrily at the three older girls that were setting such a despicable example.

Upon return home and with the choice of an extravagant dinner to lose her mind in preparing taken away with the vote for a quick and easy salad for dinner winning, Heather returned to research hoping her girlfriends and parents found something. She had actually lost the right to vote on the evening meal when she agreed she just wanted to cook it, not eat it. So they had spent the afternoon researching methods to destroy horcrux and from Heather's perspective not getting very far.

They kept returning to the elephant in the room namely Heather's forced marriage. Finally, after dinner Heather stopped trying to read the book in front of her. She hadn't read a page all afternoon because of the worry eating at her. She had been blasé earlier because she didn't think magic could really force that on someone. When that was coupled with the belief that Hermione or Luna could solve anything between the two of them. Heather had been in a world of denial.

Unfortunately, reality was intruding on her vacation. The glorious escape form Harry Potter's life was showing signs that the grass might not be always greener. Within a couple of days as Heather Black, she was obtaining issues she had never dreamed of. Perhaps she was putting too much faith in her girlfriends' intelligence and problem solving capabilities. She was so lucky that her girlfriends were exceptionally smart. However, maybe this was beyond their ability to solve.

"Luna can magic really force me to sleep with a wizard?"

"Even though it can, Hermione and I have worked a couple of ways out. We have actually had better results from looking into finding ways that enable you to not have to sleep with Neville than the research of discovering ways to destroy the horcrux. We wanted to share them with you later." Luna answered.

"I really need good news now, not later. So what have the two of you found?" Heather eagerly asked and actually looked the happiest she had in a while.

"Well Luna thinks that as you were instrumental in saving the dowager's life, you are owed a life debt that should negate the whole contract. Once they have taken the time to put it all together. We simply force the life debt to provide a contract, so no one else can place you under contract. The new contract will provide no coitus rights to Neville." Hermione informed her lover.

"That sounds good and if it doesn't work what is plan 'B'?" Heather inquired actually smiling again.

"Oh this one solves everything and was thought up by Hermione a bit ago. We were going to surprise you in bed tonight with the two ideas." Luna stated. "Do you want to explain the pièce de résistance that is simple and will prevent Neville getting any of our lovely Heather's booty even if the life debt route doesn't take for some reason?"

Hermione nodded. "In say six years when we are ready to start a family, either Luna or I, or some other witch if you no longer love us, will take polyjuice with a hair from Neville's head. They then glamour themselves to look like themselves and so you make love to your lover that looks like your lover and consummate the marriage with Neville without even sleeping with him.

"He makes love to Hannah. She is polyjuiced with a hair from Heather, and Hannah is also wearing a glamour to be herself once more. So Neville consummates the marriage to Heather while only making love to his wife looking like herself. If she gets pregnant while being in Heather's form with Heather's egg fertilized then the pregnancy will keep Hannah in the form of Heather during pregnancy. She can provide the Longbottom son that the dowager is demanding of Heather. She will retain Hannah's body once more after finishing nursing the baby. Hannah can always glamour herself to look like herself too during this period.

"So the dowager would not get a single thing she wanted. However, will also never know she was tricked. All of Neville's children would be provided to him from his wife, Hannah. Though the genetics will be from you, well me, the act will be from the couple Neville and Hannah." Hermione explained.

"So no matter what I will only end up sleeping with the people I have fallen in love with?" Heather squealed.

"As long as it isn't a wizard other than Neville that you fall in love with we guarantee you can sleep only with the people you love. You will be able to sleep with the one or ones you love, when you want to sleep with them. Unfortunately until the fidelity clause of three daughters or one son is satisfied via Hannah standing in as you with her husband Neville, you will not be able to sleep with a different wizard if you fall for one, right away." Luna answered.

"I knew you two would get me out of this. I love you both so much." Heather grabbed both of her wonderful lovers in glee. "As if I will love anyone but you two! I am yours as long as you both keep me."

The descent to the floor and multi coloured balls of fluff rolling around their feet was amusing until the clothing started being shed. "You three might want to head to your room girls. Before anymore clothes come off." Mum calmly stated so happy at the solution found. After the whirlwind of coloured fluff left she sank into her husband, Dan's embrace. She was pounds lighter. A fit of uncontrollable giggling released, as her worries and concerns she had been hiding were gone. "Darling, do you want to take me to our room?"

* * *

Voldemort was furious he had given Rowle a simple plan while he spent the time to prepare the ritual to make another hocrux. Unfortunately Slytherin's athame did not become a horcrux. He had already split his soul as much as it could be and now only had three horcrux protecting his immortality. With his soul in four parts he was only happy that it didn't induce the pain and difficulty he had experienced after making the third horcrux, and prior to making the fourth that had stabilized him from the arithmetic unstable number four.

His next item to tick him off was he couldn't punish Rowle because Bellatrix had crucio'd him to death. For stopping her play time with the twin mudbloods. Where had the second mudblood come from? Was she a twin that had come to Hogwarts time-sharing the classes, to appear one student? Was that how she attended every elective and general class in her third year while pretending she had been awarded a time turner; a feat that hadn't been offered to him or any he knew of during his schooling.

No, it was high time he punished Severus. He wasn't in the best mood so he needed to be careful he didn't kill his potion master. In fact he needed to make a recruitment drive as he had lost too many death eaters. The returning seventh year class could be good cannon fodder. It was not like there was a school for them to attend.

"Severus you told me that the Order would not change from Dumbledore's plan. That Harry would be at Privet Drive until the evening before his seventeenth birthday. Yet not only is he not staying there currently, but he never returned to them at the end of the term.

"Next, you state that the lockdown wards on the Black townhouse must have been raised by Potter. That there was no one else more closely related than Potter, on Dumbledore's precious side. So upon my spy's information I request Narcissa to regain control that she will easily obtain if the information is valid. She returns having failed, broken.

"Information has been slowly trickling in from numerous seedy places, dives of ill refute. From the festering underbelly of the wizard society that has a pattern of similarity. A pattern, I add, that is not even hinted at from your information. So I am left to wonder are they all wrong in believing of a bastard child being taught by the Order in secret. Why my top spy that I handpicked to be closest to Dumbledore didn't even have a hint of this information. Didn't know the mudblood had an identical twin. Is the information that is trickling in wrong Severus?"

"My Lord, in the last meeting I probed everyone but Dumbledore, the beast and Mad Eye as they would notice, or in the beast's case can't be read. All the others were planning in following Dumbledore's plan. As they didn't, obviously Mad Eye must have quickly co-opted part of the Order at some point after the last meeting. I am positive he did this without Dumbledore's knowledge for I had the old fool's measure I am positive.

"That would mean that Sirius after the last meeting before his death a year ago must have found out he had a bastard and confided in only with Mad Eye and not the wolf. Or Mad Eye was suspicious and confirmed from Sirius again after the last Order meeting before the mutts death last year. This has to have happened in the week before his death, as after Azkaban the mutt's mind was a pathetic open book and he had no knowledge of a bastard. The reason I know it wasn't confided in the wolf, though I can't read the wolf, is because he spills everything to the shape-shifter who is easily read and there was no subterfuge. He couldn't have kept this from her for a year while grieving.

"This means that though the mutt's bastard is now interfacing with more member's of the order. They can only have previously been learning from Mad Eye. In addition at most there would only be a year of interaction between the bastard and Moody. Otherwise he would have to have confided in Sirius and I would have found out. So the rumors of the Order hiding from me, years of tutelage of this bastard are false. The most would be sporadic training when the bastard and Mad Eye could find somewhere as well as spare the time to meet. So the only training is for a year and from one wizard. A good one true, but if taught by only them the bastard will then have the same habits that can be exploited." Severus answered hoping to show his current use to cover up for his prior failings. His barriers were tightly held at highest control to ensure he didn't sweat or show weakness or fear. He couldn't let Voldemort see his own self doubt that Dumbledore had tricked him completely.

"How can you be sure that you had Dumbledore's measure? That he didn't share the secret thus meaning the bastard could have been trained by both of them full time at Headquarters?" Voldemort enquired.

"I can be sure because the lockdown wards did not activate earlier. Obviously, it was on the first entry to Grimmauld that caused the lockdown." Severus answered.

"What of the rumors that the mudblood was best friends with it?"

"False. I expect Moody placed the child on the train and they started their friendship on the journey down. The day prior to when I left Hogwarts I had the mudblood in a defense class. I sifted through the mudblood's thoughts she didn't have a secret friend. She also doesn't have an identical twin, she has no siblings. If I had to guess I would say the bastard Black was polyjuiced to look like the mudblood so no one knew the bastard was a girl or how old she is. They would think it was the mudblood, not a strange new unknown girl, if they saw her on the train."

"Severus, I am disappointed that you let a retired auror keep key information from you that cost me. I recommend that you don't remain incompetent in serving me. Crucio!" Voldemort kept him under the curse for a few seconds. He couldn't lose his potion master but he needed to be reminded that one shouldn't disappoint their dark lord.

"Severus fetch your godson, Draco, and his near squib mother. I can't have my potion maker having shaking hands. So know that they will take the brunt of the punishment you incur from me. If you value them, I recommend you don't disappoint me again."

* * *

Heather was enjoying her dream when a feeling of wrongness seeped into her consciousness. A cruel feeling of anticipation in giving out punishment heightened. Then she saw Malfoy who had let death eaters into Hogwarts on the night Dumbledore died and she was going to punish him for that and the wounds Greyback had caused Bill Weasley and Lavender Brown. He needed punishing because he couldn't punish his potion master. He needed those potions for his war effort.

He glanced at his two horcrux; yes he will keep them safe beside him now that they and the snake were all that was left to protect his immortality. He was furious that he couldn't make any more. He was furious with his death eaters failing him. He lifted his long arm slowly callously, enjoying the growing fear in the eyes of the victim cowering before him.

His yew wand flicked and he rolled the word, "Crucio," with nonchalant indifference. He languished as Malfoy collapsed to the floor in pain. He no, she wanted Malfoy to suffer. Malfoy complete with his smug attitude of rubbing in the loss of her godfather, of how he taunted her friends, reveled in their misfortune. He needed to suffer. Yes, let him scream to his daddy for help. He should hurt, but well this? This was sick, wrong…

Suddenly Heather realized where she was. She must get back she mustn't let…

"Potter!" The dark lord screamed dropping the curse he'd been holding on Malfoy. He was going to find out where Potter was hiding and anything else he could. He raced after the retreating nuisance.

* * *

Luna and Hermione awoke to screaming and saw Heather bolt upright in bed the curse scar angry once more and bleeding. But worse her eyes were red, visible in the dark bedroom, and she was snarling and looking at them with a look of undiluted evil.

Luna was momentarily frozen. She was a little girl unable to do anything as her mother was dying before her. No this was one of her girlfriends being possessed by something evil, and she wouldn't be useless again. She would fight to protect her loves. "Heather we need you here now!" Luna yelled grabbing a hold of her girlfriend and forcing a kiss on her.

Hermione realizing what Luna was doing joined in. "Heather we love you. You must help us. Love us; be with us; fight for us!" She to, tightly clung and when Luna broke from her kiss, she dived in capturing Heather's lips in her own. She willed Heather to know how much she needed her best friend, her girlfriend and one of her lovers. She recalled that the night in the ministry Heather had said that Harry used love to fight back the possession from Voldemort. He had used the feelings for his friends and memories of his family when the sick bastard had tried to get Dumbledore to kill his own student.

Heather heard her best friends, her loving girlfriends and was aware of a dam holding back magic that just wanted to be released. It begged to be used. She would not let Voldemort hurt them. She would not hurt any more. He mustn't see her girlfriend's. She had to get rid of him before he saw them through her eyes. She accepted the magic and she clung to Luna and Hermione biting back on the pain as she allowed the dam to be breached. She allowed the power to crash upon the evil.

The Black wards were angry. There was an enemy within their safety. A leach clinging and draining the very power of the one they had arisen to protect. With ferocious swift abandon they fell upon it, harried it and tore it from their charge. Destroying it utterly, and following the linkage as it was collapsing to the mind that had been behind the attack. There they unleashed themselves as furies upon the abomination until the path no longer existed. With the bridge between the two minds gone as if it had never been there, the magic of the wards had no path to follow and could no longer continue to attack. Like a wave bereft the ocean behind it, the wave crashed one last time on the invader and sunk back to find the lost ocean once more.

* * *

Bellatrix sprang forward. Her Lord had been punishing her nephew. Suddenly he stopped and yelled 'Potter' and then a few moments later he collapsed screaming, seeing her Lord in agony lit her anger. "Get out!" she yelled to the death eaters present. They mustn't see the Dark Lord, her wonderful Master like this.

Then Bellatrix turned to her younger sister, "take Draco out of here! Tell Severus I need his assistance." She then provided aid to her Master. She would protect him, get him fully healed and then she would make Potter suffer for daring to attack her Lord. She lovingly caressed his pallid face worried about the cloying over hot dampness to the skin's touch. What had Potter done?

* * *

Dan and Emma Granger flew into the master suite on the fourth floor, turning on the light in time to see a black misty face screaming in front of Heather. Hermione and Luna were clinging tightly to either side of Heather kissing and declaring their love for her. The mist was torn to shreds by a power that suddenly swallowed the whole room. They felt judged and thankfully accepted by a force of nature. Beside the bed the three girls were stubbornly clutching to each other on, was Kreacher looking nervously at his Mistress unsure what he could do to help. The room was crowded with several other distressed house elves that the Doctors were as yet not so sure, on who were who.

With the mist gone the feelings of evil and being overwhelmed subsided. Aside the bleeding from Heather's scar everything now in the room was back from its trip from normal. Thankfully the Grangers recalled being told a day earlier by their angry daughter that this bleeding of the scar occurred when Voldemort terrorized their youngest daughter's dreams. If anything what they witnessed was beyond a night terror, as with magic it was not just an imagined attack but a real one that if recalled another night would then be a night terror. All three girls were reassuring each other that they and the others were okay.

Hermione quickly nipped the apology that Heather had been about to deliver and forcefully let her know that she better not say she is sorry, seen as she hadn't done anything wrong.

Luna cast an episkey spell and the scar was completely gone. Heather felt like a huge weight had left her. She could think clearer and the vile nightmare receded leaving her to revel in just the warm thoughts of love from her family that displaced all of the tortured nightmare terrors from conscious thought. Never before had the evil thoughts so quickly vanished. She clung to her lovers that were her strength.

"Let's have cocoa in the kitchen girl's." Mrs. Granger said. Then remembering she needed to have magic to cook in this house and both knowing not to let Hermione near an oven, while unsure if Luna could make it, asked, "Kreacher, could you make hot cocoa for everyone please?"

"Yes, Mistress Black's mother," and Kreacher popped out.

"Well girls lets have you up." Then noticing that Luna was actually sleeping, as she had stated yesterday she did, in the nude, added. "Pop some dressing-gowns on too." Thankfully the fur was some covering.

Dan also noticing quickly left to catch up with the house elves that had all left.

Hermione felt something sticky as she pushed up off the bed, and was about to rub her hand absently, but the noticing was sufficient to make her look. Her hand was bleeding. No there was blood in the middle of the bed. Quickly scanning herself and her loves to find the wound she saw Heather's panties.

"Mum, Luna head downstairs. Heather and I will join you in a moment." Hermione informed them. Thankfully both quickly understood. Once they were alone she smiled at Heather, "Come on let's get to the bathroom and we'll get you cleaned up. Oh and now you find out why we made you buy. Now how did you describe them again? Yes, that's it, 'the ugly grandma pants'."

"I don't want to show my inexperience here, but I thought I would have at least a month 'till I had to worry about this Hermione." Heather stated as she was getting dressed having cleaned herself with Hermione's direction.

"The hair came from me Heather, so you were formed at the same point of the cycle as I was in mine. Which should be a few days away, but they can shift a bit and I think what you just went through tonight with you-know-who trying to posses you and all. Well, you can thank him for your first monthly visitor." Hermione grinned wickedly at her.

"Hermione, that is not funny at all."

"I think it is. I might just share it with Luna and mum."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"What are you willing to do to stop me?"

"You're still interested in me when I'm wearing the ugly grandma pants?"

"Heather, I am hurt that you even had to ask."

A/N I owe a lot of thanks on this to my reviewers and PM's of concern from Coolsietes, MilandaAnza, Archimand, James Petross, Cellester, GinnyLover14 and others - having moved the polyjuice solution from the last chapter to here ('rumors that I did it as I felt my life expectancy shrinking are damn straight') It makes the rest of the story flow better and I think my taunting threat would have if I kept at it, unlike me, got old. So you can put your pitchforks away now - Heather was never going to be forced. Also thanks to MilandaAnza who responded to my three reasons why Heather is not freaking out enough to the situation by informing me that perhaps I should write it into the story and clue everyone else to my thought process. Apparently you lot aren't mind readers that are a bit noisy when you poke around in my head. Those are voices thanks to my insanity not you lot. Er, that is a good thing, yes? -waves- Trengilly


	19. Chapter 19

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

To build a better mouse trap

Doctor Emma Granger held her mug of hot cocoa in both hands. Enjoying the warmth from the wall of the mug and savoring the smell. While the eddying steam currents that swirled above the mouth of the mug getting fainter and fainter as they rose, allowed time for her cares to release. Like the steam, stealing the excess heat from the drink to escape, the agitation and numb terror was teased from its frantic frenzy that froze the mind from logical thought, and allowed it to fade more on each returning pass. Glancing at her three girls she watched and waited as the tension left their shoulders. The worry lines receded, cautious smiles returned, and eyes began to dance once more with life and in Luna's case mischief.

Leaning into her husband's embrace she quietly whispered in his ear. "I've got this, pointless both of us missing sleep. I'll fill you in later." Enjoying his arms tightening around her waist as he nuzzled her neck prior to releasing and wishing her good night, he left with his cup of cocoa.

"So Hermione, I take it this was the beamed in visions Heather gets that you had been discussing the other day?" Emma asked. Judging it was about time to start the discussion. The memory of the scare was adequately distant. Allowing careful analysis of what had happened. Without being bogged down by over emotional reactions.

However, it was still fresh enough to be valid before they had lost focus on the event, by allowing one, or all of them, to mask what happened. Letting them hide their emotions behind solid defenses. This would prevent her getting a handle on something well beyond her own experiences. Stopping her from knowing if they were hiding the worst from her, or not. She needed the emotional tells, and couldn't let them completely recover and gain the ability to lie on how bad it really was.

"No, this was worse. I've never seen something this bad." Hermione replied, and allowed Emma to sigh in relief. She'd thought her daughter had downplayed the night terrors. Of course, it also increased her worry of this new more deadly attack. "When Vold… you-know-who possessed you at the end of fifth year in the Ministry atrium, Heather, was it this bad?" Hermione asked.

"This was worse than that."

"I am glad you didn't have to face the whole screaming wraith and the overpowering vile presence before but we have to ensure it doesn't happen again." Emma stated.

"Oh that I've seen before."

"Heather! Why have you never told me that you have had the nightmares, this bad before? I mean the ones I've seen were bad enough, but did you and Ronald deliberately hide how much worse some had been?" Hermione angrily said.

"Hermione It wasn't a nightmare, and I have told you about it. I am meaning when Vol… you-know-who left Quirrell in first year. Only this time it was as if he left me. This nightmare, for a moment there seemed to be two Vo… you-know-who's. There was this huge other power that was all around us in the room too. When that power forced him back, it also forced the other out into the room. That second push was so similar to when I was touching Professor Quirrell, and an extra force pushed you-know-who out of him. Whereas, the first was similar to the possession in the ministry, and my feelings of love and family, and both Luna and you clinging to me, and letting me know I was wanted, made that one easier. However, the whole fight wasn't easy, because I was fighting on two sides, and almost against part of myself.

"Heather, your scar is completely gone, and would never completely heal before. Do you think it actually was an existing possession that was fighting to try to take possession of you, while you were distracted against fighting a second possession attempt from you-know-who? You are finding similarities to Quirrell's exorcism to part of what happened tonight, and after winning the scar completely healed." Luna asked.

"Well I would say yes, except I didn't die. Thought I was dying during the event, it was so painful. However, unlike Quirrell that died from an exorcism, I think I am still alive. Dumbledore said that Quirrell died when he accepted to be possessed. The act of exorcism always kills the host.

"But you weren't willingly possessed, Heather you didn't accept to be possessed." Luna noted.

"Why that old…

Hermione put her mug down on the table so forcefully it caused the half drunk cocoa to splash onto the table. She pushed back her chair, and charged from the kitchen. Thundering steps could be heard as she tore up the stairs.

Heather looked at Luna and at mum, finding both looking at her as clueless as she was. "Should we follow?"

"Let's finish our drinks I am sure she'll be back. She would have told us if she wanted us to follow." Mum said, while going to get a cloth, but found Dobby already cleaning the spill up.

Several minutes later a cursing Hermione returned with a portrait. It was Dumbledore's portrait that she hung from the hook on the kitchen wall. "See you stupid senile bastard! No bloody scar, and Heather isn't dead you pathetic excuse for a flipping' human!" Hermione yelled with glamour dropped, tail lashing in complete anger, and claws extended as if she wanted to tear them through the canvas.

Emma's immediate rant at her daughter's colourful diction had been derailed by the 'Heather isn't dead' comment. Hoping it didn't allude to what she was worried it did. If it did, then she might just join her daughter with a few choice words. Knowing her daughter, and seeing the cat-girl's body language, meant she would give Hermione the benefit of the doubt. Internally she smirked, seeing Luna and Heather with gaping mouths, staring at her daughter. They probably had never known she could swear. She also never knew that a painting could pale, but boy could it ever.

"Harry…

"No, you will address her as Miss Black. A plotting murderer has no rights to using a first name, and definitely no rights to use a first name that the person does not wish to use!"

"I am not a plotting murderer Miss Granger. Vold…

"Don't say his name!" Hermione shrieked.

"I thought Harry and you were able to say his name, and not caught up in the whole fear of his name. It is disappoint…

"No, what is disappointing is your stupidity! Bill Weasley said do not say the name because he is unsure if the Taboo can negate, or partially damage, lockdown wards. It is stupid to shoot guns at yourself to see if the body armor will block the bullet. We are not stopping from saying the name out of fear. We are sensibly not allowing any damage to occur, to our trump defense.

"Everything about your handling of you-know-who is stupid. You horded information, and set us up to fail. If we weren't behind lockdown wards, and we used the name we could get caught. However, then Heather could be murdered, and the piece of you-know-who that you knew was in her scar, would be dealt with. Maybe that is why you wanted us to become comfortable using the name." Hermione interrupted. Then starred at the portrait out of breath, and with nothing further she really wanted to say. If she had the breath, she might have just screamed at him, and hoped she could make him deaf.

"Miss Black I owe you an apology it would seem. As Miss Granger correctly has pointed out a few times, I have been a stupid old man. Though I think she had a few words even less kind that likely she has the right to use. I am not a plotting murderer, and I didn't want you to die. My hope, as you had your soul as well as a bit of you-know-who's, was that if you-know-who hit you with the killing curse again, then magic would accept the bit of you-know-who, and allow you to live. I could not think of any other way to remove the horcrux from you that did not involve your death.

"If I could get you to willingly allow him to cast the curse then at best, you would live without the horcrux, and he could be killed. At worst, your willing sacrifice would in your death provide a blood protection, like your Mother did for you, to all your friends. This would enable you-know-who to be killed, while protecting as many other people as possible. It was a painful decision to make. I considered Harry my own grandson, and thought I had to sacrifice you for the greater good of the wizarding world.

"When I saw Harry growing and developing into a young wizard I could be proud of, no matter what hardship he had to overcome, I wished there could be another way. For I believed then that the magic world would only be better with him in it, and I now believe that it is also true, for you Miss Black. The magic world needs more witches like you, Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood. I cannot tell you how happy I am that the horcrux is destroyed, and you are alive. Can you, Miss Black, forgive me?"

Heather stared at Dumbledore. How did you respond to that? What did one say? Was one supposed to say, 'no problem quite understand you planned my death, but hoped by luck I could survive the ordeal.' Or do you reply with, 'no apology needed, at least you ensured my death would provide something for everyone else.' Deciding to ignore for now, and get useful information instead. She realized how she would respond.

"How do we destroy his horcrux?" Heather asked.

Dumbledore had been hoping that Ha... Miss Black would accept his apology and forgive him. He sighed internally when she chose not to. "You already destroyed one. The diary was a horcrux. Other than basilisk venom I think there are some dark curses that might work but they are dangerous and could hurt you, and those around you. I would recommend you stick with what you know. It is how I destroyed the ring."

"So did you include the basilisk fang in the things we salvaged from Hogwarts?" Heather asked.

"What, no? Miss Black, I am sorry could you please tell me what I can do to get forgiveness from you?" Dumbledore's portrait, was initially confused why Heather was suddenly asking about rare potion ingredients. Like a stuck recording he returned to his earlier request from her that she had not yet answered to his stored personality's satisfaction. Unlike a recording it was phrased differently.

This was one of the reasons most witches and wizards forget they are talking to a recording of a personality, and not the real person. The other main reason was that as a key point was resolved within the flexibility of the portraits personality, the resolved issue was remembered. Thus until a further change occurred, the portrait now could think of the individual, they primarily still think of as Harry, as Miss Black too. Thanks to Hermione's emotional speech the movement to try to use 'Miss Black' and 'you-know-who' had been made within the portrait. This ability to resolve issues with the living is one of the main reasons portraits were so good for a grieving relative.

Heather threw her hands up in frustration. She was trying to talk with him on a valid important topic and he wanted her to just forgive him at the drop of a hat. "I need him gone! I don't want him here!"

Kreacher popped in and then left. The wall where Dumbledore's portrait had been was now empty once more.

"Oh, I'll have to be careful of saying that in the future." Heather stated, looking a bit guilty. "What do you think Kreacher did with him?"

"I placed him in the attic again Mistress Black. Do you want him somewhere else?"

Heather surprised now that Kreacher was back, just shook her head. "That is fine. Thank you, Kreacher."

"Well I probably need to start researching other ways of destroying horcrux. What with Hogwarts gone and no basilisk fang. I think it is time to search the library." Heather wrapped up the conversation not wanting to discuss it any more. She was also far too angry to fall back to sleep. "I'll only disturb you both if I try to go to sleep and I need some time to clear my head. I don't want to say something I don't mean and hurt anyone."

Luna and Hermione looked at each other, and then wished mum a good night. "We're coming with you to the library, Heather. We won't disturb you, but can research with you at the same time, while you're getting back to normal after what Dumbledore just revealed." Luna informed Heather.

"Yes three heads are always better than one, and that is doubly so in the black library. I don't think we should ever be in there alone." Hermione added.

"Goodnight girls. As soon as you get tired go back to sleep." Mum told them and gave each a hug and kiss on the forehead. She smiled noticing that all the cups had been cleaned, the table wiped, and chairs tucked in tidy, by the time she left the last hug. "Oh, I could definitely get used to this."

The girls had spent several hours in the Black library, and only uncovered a few additional ideas. When Kreacher arrived to inform them it was breakfast time, and mum and dad wanted to have a 'pow-wow' meeting. After tidying up their books they left downstairs for the kitchen.

"Well I am not too sure at the cost, but this is the first morning Heather that you actually look alive." Dad told her as they entered the kitchen.

"Love you to, dad." Heather said whacking him on the back as she passed. She poured herself a mug of coffee and headed for the table where the headlines of the Daily Prophet glared up at her.

"Dowager Longbottom Steals the Lockdown Ward from Nine Year Old Witch!

Madam Longbottom has tricked nine year old Heather Black into marrying her twenty-three-year-old grandson to obtain the Black Lockdown wards. She demands fidelity from young Heather. A girl so young she wouldn't even have attended Hogwarts for three more years. With you-know-who destroying Hogwarts she will not even get to learn magic. The witch who has never met a boy in her short life will be married to an older wizard that loves and plans to marry another witch. While using Miss Black as a brood mare to strengthen his weak magic. He never sat his Newt exams, and in fact it was a surprise he even got to attend Hogwarts as relatives had believed him a squib.

For the last few days the whole wizarding world has been abuzz on the new lockdown wards, and how they came about. There hasn't been a set of lockdown wards in over three-hundred years, and with you-know-who returned everyone wants to find out how they can make their wards go lockdown. But Madam Longbottom went one step further.

Not happy with trying to mimic their creation. She decided to steal them…"

Further down the paper were a few more headlines. "Sirius Black was Innocent Hero! (See page 3)" and "Nine Year Old Black, Saves Dowager's Life – Reward – Made Pregnant Slave to Squib! (See page 2)"

"We need to get Neville here before someone kills him." Heather said. Then she pushed the paper to Hermione, who was looking at her oddly.

"Dad and I thought you would complain about the ages and lies within the article." Mum said rather surprised with Heather's take of the paper.

"Nope I think the headline, "Sirius Black was Innocent Hero!" is the first truthful thing the Daily Prophet has ever written. I am sure they will have mistakes in the article on page three though. They can't report anymore facts. It would go against the company's charter. As for the ages, when I was fourteen in the Tri-wizard tournament, thanks to a death eater wanting me dead, they printed my age as twelve to make it sound better. So there is nothing odd that they have Heather aged nine. The crazy thing is how many of the witches and wizards that will now swear blind I am nine, even if I tell them different.

"Anyway I thought we were having a pow-wow." Heather said while noticing Hermione hand the paper to Luna.

"Okay so, baby, did you find another way to destroy the horcrux?" Dad asked.

"I have found the instructions on how to cast a deadly spell that will most likely destroy the horcrux in the Black library. It however is a spell that usually escapes the control of the wizard casting it. You-know-who cast it during the destruction of Hogwarts, and then retreated so it didn't kill him too."

"You found the information on how to cast fiendfyre?" Hermione asked.

"Yes I can show you the book I found it in later. It has pages dedicated to how strong your will must be, so the spell doesn't get away from you. However, it does actually then finally show wand movements and incantation. It also has a better description on learning Occlumency than Snape's 'clear you mind'. Mind you that isn't hard, but the book has three chapters on it, and apparently that is just the bare bones basics. Fiendfyre is only recommended for one with advanced skills in Occlumency, as the magic actively tries to subvert the user to direct the flames into burning themselves alive." Heather informed them.

"Well I think we will look for a better method as that is extremely dangerous and at the end of it might not even work. Baby, do you have anything else?" Dad asked. After the shaken head from Heather he looked to Hermione. "You're up princess."

"Well, we already know this incantation but the book explained the emotion you must drown yourself in while casting the spell. It will work but the spell is illegal to cast and can be found from your wand up to three years after you cast it. The emotion of hate can affect even a well occluded mind. So like Heather's spell, Occlumency is needed. The more advanced you are in the skill the better." Hermione stated. "A better idea, than Fiendfyre or the killing curse is to find out how much basilisk venom costs."

"You will not find it on the regular market and most likely will get ripped off with something that looks like, but isn't what you want unless you have good contacts in the shady places it might be able to get it. Even if you just bought enough to prime a goblin made weapon, so it would dispose of the four horcrux verses trying to buy enough to destroy the four horcrux individually, you are unlikely to get it at any price." Luna said.

"Luna what do you mean by prime a goblin made weapon?" Hermione asked.

"Well there are several key things about goblin weapons. Most know that goblins consider the sale to a person to be for them to use it for their life and expect wizards to return them when the person that bought it dies. Unfortunately most wizards consider it something they can give to an heir. It is one of the sticking points of contention between wizards, and goblins and has caused the goblins to increase the charge for buying an item made by them. Which makes wizards believe it is even more justified to be able to give it to someone else if they so desire.

"The other main difference of goblin made weapons is they can only get stronger. They will imbibe anything that makes them stronger So if you poured basilisk venom on the side of the weapon then when it cuts, bludgeons, garrotes or whatever the victim, it will also like a basilisk, secrete the venom into the wound it made. Another key thing…"

"Gryffindor's sword! Heather we can use the sword to destroy the horcrux. It is a goblin made weapon that you shoved through the open mouth of the basilisk into its brain." Hermione excitedly exclaimed and grabbed both lovers in to a tight hug.


	20. Chapter 20

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Magic's Price

Having voted to grab the sword of Gryffindor from the fourth floor, where it was one of the items from the inventory of things salvaged from Hogwarts the other night, and destroy the locket came with a few problems. These were found after the sword was placed on the kitchen table. The first occurred while discussing what protections they should wear on the hand that was going to bring the locket here. Heather wanted to use her dragon hide potion gloves to retrieve it. Everyone was adamant Heather wouldn't be touching the locket again, seen as what had happened the last time she did. Luna hadn't brought her potion gloves and Hermione's were damaged the prior year. Hermione was going to replace the pair this summer. She didn't know if it truly was worn from use or someone had sabotaged it in the hope she would use it and hurt herself last school year.

Of course Heather's glove didn't fit any of the five of them as they had been bought for Harry's hands. Dad couldn't get his hands in them, while they were so large on the other fours' hands they couldn't manipulate the fingers to open and close. Being dragon hide, it wasn't like leather gloves that can be used when oversized. Without a fairly snug fit the gloves were practically useless. Dragon hide, also unlike leather, couldn't be cut without the correct magical tools used to craft them in the first place. The second problem was surprisingly from Kreacher.

"Kreacher bring locket for Mistress Black!" Kreacher almost yelled this time. "Kreacher touch locket all the time. Never get hurt."

"No, Kreacher, I am not allowing you to touch it without some protection, and my gloves are ridiculously too big for you. We can always go the apothecary when it opens and buy gloves." Though the length of the gloves were almost spot on, Kreacher's spindly thin fingers and palm were hopelessly dwarfed by the human sized finger holes, and body of the glove.

"No gloves small enough to fit Kreacher. No one else will touch locket, might get hurt like Mistress Black did. It could be even worse for next witch. Kreacher will bring locket. Kreacher never hurt."

"Do you have something that offers protection, and could hook the locket pulling it out of the small opening to the secret compartment that the locket is in?" Dad asked.

"My medium pestle would fit and it is sufficiently long enough that your hand could hold the wrong end and let the locket be hooked on the ring of the other end. The stone it is made from is inert to magic, and being about seven inches long it has to provide protection as good as, three-eighth thick dragon hide gloves. Hermione suggested.

So Kreacher brought the locket on Hermione's medium pestle to the kitchen table. "Kreacher promised Master Reggie to destroy locket." The house elf said before grabbing the sword that was longer than he was tall, and swinging it wildly at the locket.

Everyone was at least able to get out of the way prior to second, third and fourth strikes. Which were as useless as the first had been.

"Kreacher stop." Heather managed to get out before the fifth strike occurred. "Ideas? It doesn't appear to have been scratched by the sword. Not for want for trying either." She asked while looking at her elf a little warily.

"It is a locket. Maybe it needs to be opened first." Mum suggested.

"Kreacher tried. Locket won't open!" Kreacher close to tears angrily declared.

"Alohomora; Finite Incatatem; Cistem Aperio; Emancipare; Partis Temporus." Luna declared then followed through with more and more complex and obscure unlocking spells, barely taking a second to breathe let alone think between each spell.

Heather impressed after what appeared to be over thirty spells said to Hermione. "We're not going to be able to hide things away in locked drawers are we?"

"Is there a mechanical catch?" Dad asked.

"No catch, just a snake engraved for Slytherin on one side." Kreacher declared, with slumped shoulders resigned to failure again.

Heather looked but couldn't see anything. "Kreacher, can you flip it over carefully with the sword and then get ready to strike if it opens?"

Kreacher used the sword to flip the locket and then lifted the sword poised above the locket for a downward strike.

Heather looked at the now visible snake and imagined talking to it. " _Open_ " she hissed and as it opened, she quickly stepped out of the way. The blade was already stabbed through the locket before it was completely open. The screaming black cloud couldn't even form into a face before the magic within Grimmauld Place tore it to shreds. It knew how to handle this type of attack, having been inoculated a few hours earlier.

Kreacher charged at Heather and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Mistress Heather promised, and she let me keep Master Reggie's promise." He said, as tears ran freely from the emotional house elf.

Heather was extremely concerned about the basilisk infused sword that he still wielded while hugging her, noticed her new name from the house elf. She starred at the rest of the room begging for help, and received none from her smiling parents, to the openly laughing, Hermione and Luna. "Kreacher, could you take the sword back to the fourth floor, please." But her request was unheard. "If I die from the sword, so help me I'll haunt the lot of you!"

Mum thankfully decided that perhaps there was something to worry about and actually disarmed the house elf. She didn't stop it from hugging, and breaking down on her daughter though. Seeing Dobby, Brillit, and a few other elves, she held out the sword. "Fourth floor?" She asked, and the sword was popped away.

Luna between giggles asked. "So Heather, were you afraid of being poked with Kreacher's sword?" The comment caused Hermione to lose it, and the two girls clung to each other descending into hilarity.

"Mum; Dad," Heather looked at them but didn't see any help. Swinging toward the elves she prepared to command one. However, as if they knew what was coming next, they all popped out. Or they turned invisible so they could watch the spectacle but not be commanded to end it. Her calls to all the house elves she could recall names of, were ignored. "Kreacher!" her yelling finally got his attention. "Please let me go." Finally not with any help from the audience she managed to get free and saw the mess of snot and tears on her dressing gown. "I'm going for a shower!" Heather left, with as much dignity as she could manage, quite embarrassed.

"Luna your comment was disgusting and not funny. Hermione you should not have laughed." Mum told the two girls off after Heather had left upstairs.

"Dad smirked at it too." Hermione said.

Emma whirled on Dan, but he spoke before she got a chance. "I am sorry dear, but humor is needed after all the things that have been happening. Once Heather has time to calm down she will see the funny side. It was probably too soon though to say it to Heather though, Luna. Both of you should not have laughed so much."

"We needed a release dad, and we'll make it up to Heather. She'll be fine after her shower." Hermione said before mum could attack. "Was there anything else we need to discuss or does it have to wait 'till Heather returns?"

"Well actually Luna is the most likely to know what this means and opened the Daily Prophet to the fourth page. Where there was another headline and article, and handed the opened paper to Luna.

'First War Marshal since Grindelwald Inducted, Offers Amnesty and Pardons for Joining War Office

The last to hold the title of War Marshal was Wilhelm Hawthorn, who stepped down over fifty years ago after Grindelwald was defeated. He had held the office successfully for thirty two years. Initially he was placed to address the Burgfriedenspolitik crisis in Continental Europe in the year 1911 that he served well during, and he was still in office as Grindelwald followed as the next threat. He managed that campaign also with impeccable attention to detail and proper decorum as the position calls for.

With Madam Amelia Bones inducted as War Marshal yesterday we can hope the witch is as capable of holding such an office that has been correctly handled before by our society's best wizards. Her first order of business was to demand a patient was woken while undergoing initial treatment of healing from life threatening injuries, and then berate the elderly lady. This caused additional work forcing medical staff to monitor the elderly and infirm lady's condition to prevent her from dying. Now she has established a War Office. She has stated there will be separate divisions for any Werewolves and Hags interested in serving along with one that will allow 'Summary', 'Either Way', and even 'Indictable Only' crimes to be absolved for months of service on a sliding scale based on severity of the crime, amnesty will be granted for. Are we really expected to rely on Murderers, Thieves, Hags and Werewolves to save us from you-know-who? Is Bones right for the job? Was there not a more prominent wizard capable to provide…'

"So Luna, what power does a War Marshall hold? Is this the same Bones that was here yesterday? Should we be concerned with what she is doing?" Mr. Granger asked.

Luna looked at everyone and started to lecture on the rarely seen office holder. "The War Marshal holds absolute power in the handling of foreign and domestic threats to the citizens. So they could decide to initiate a war with anyone. They are also extremely stable once in position. Unless they step down and retire, which except once is the way they all have ended their career, there is only one way for them to be removed involuntarily, and that is with both the Minister of Magic and the Head of the Department of Mysteries agreeing to absolve the position. Even then the War Marshal has eighteen months before being removed from office, and in that time they could have caused the replacement of the Minister of Magic. It is unlikely they could cause the replacement of the Head of the Department of Mysteries as only top officials in that department if anyone, know who the Head is.

"Yes this is the same Bones, and likely why she wants to get Susan behind the wards. Susan is Madam Bones only relative alive. So her only weakness that someone could exploit against her. As to what the War Marshal is doing it is similar to what the prophet decried Hawthorn of doing eighty odd years ago. Unfortunately, seen as how the Ministry of Magic turned against the hags and werewolves after the war with Grindewald ended, she might not be as successful. She needs to get them to believe that they won't be persecuted once more, when the threat is neutralized. Considering most magicals are lazy and expect their problems to be solved by others, Bones is appealing to the only groups likely to join up for fighting a war.

"Another problem Bones has is she is being given office late in the game. Hawthorn was instigated against a gang of magical thugs that started later using muggles as front men causing political upheaval in Europe that eventually led to the muggle World War One. This meant he could mess up for the first few years and had a solid War office in place with about twenty years of experience before the Dark Lord rose. The new threat was also rising in Germany. Bones has to resurrect the office from scratch, and you-know-who has had over two years to solidify position in our country. Considering Hawthorn had mixed results for several years initially, she will have to be substantially better. She needs to do something he didn't think of and it work well, or she will likely fail."

"So she is on our side, in an official capacity. Helping her get up and running will help us?" Dad asked.

"She is on the same side as us, and she has done well with all positions she has held in the Ministry. She is one of the few witches in a powerful leadership position. Now she is virtually untouchable, she will either be great or terrible." Luna replied.

"So we should get Susan, her best friend Hannah, and Neville behind our wards, as it will enable Madam Bones to help us." Hermione stated.

* * *

The hag fingered the polyjuice potion in her pocket while sitting in a waiting area that allowed her to see the guard she had decided as the weak link. Unfortunately her plan was delayed and there were only ten minutes 'till the window of opportunity closed. The next guard shift would start before she completed what she needed to get done. Why must the potion last an hour? Couldn't they have a twenty minute variant? She would wait slightly more than ten more minutes, because this guard's next shift here was in two days, and that might be too late. Why did there have to be this meeting interrupting her opportunity. There should have been a two hour window of uninterrupted access right now and she only needed ninety minutes for her plan. Even with the wasted forty minutes waiting for the potion to end.

* * *

"Augusta I really think you should drop the requirement for forcing her to have a child with your son." The paper destroyed you this morning." Amelia tried to reason with her old friend. "You are courting magic's penalty. Don't you think maybe the fact you are here in the hospital was magic giving you fair warning?"

"I am not some superstitious hedge witch Amelia. I'll be safe with my grandson behind the lock down wards. There were a fair few attacks on your character too in the paper this morning. Perhaps you should worry more on them. No, it is final she will within seven years consummate and by faithful to my Neville until their first child is eighteen months old. Then she can do as she pleases, as long as she has a second child with whomever she desires before thirty-five years old. Her two friends have options to be consorts with Neville for ten years and an option of the same length to choose to take the last name Black. All Longbottoms will be able to safely live behind the lockdown wards for as long as wards are active." Augusta confirmed her final standings and signed the legal paper work. Three of the four documents flashed as the names of the parties turned silver. The silver indicating that one side had signed valid legal documents. The fourth already signed by the Abbotts changed from silver to gold.

Amelia placed them all into a folder that deposited them on file within the Ministry. As magic will acknowledge the other parties of the three contracts being partial creatures, and not needing to sign to accept them, then after official filing within that office several minutes later all the names will turn gold.

"So when do you get released from the hospital?" Amelia asked.

"I am hoping tomorrow it all depends on results from their tests, but I am improving quickly." Augusta replied while resting back into the bed from the sitting position she had been in to finish the paperwork. "Tilly has ensured everything we will need is packed so I will go straight from the hospital there. Will you have the arrangements on travel set up?"

"Yes I will. Neville plans to go with Susan, Hannah and the Abbots you know?"

"I am fine with everyone hating me. I did this for my grandson. I have already lost my son. He is all I have left. You and the Abbotts benefit on my deed; without the negativity too." Augusta stated.

The folder warmed within Bones hands and she opened and gave one copy of each of the four contracts to Augusta. All names were now golden. The four contracts were a marriage contract for her grandson Neville to Hannah, a consort marriage between Neville and Heather Black and the last two being the ten year consort options between Hermione and Luna each with her grandson. The last two options each contained the additional option allowing the two girls to choose at any time to change their last name to Black. The first two both had optional ceremonies to occur on October thirty-first. They would become valid on the end of that day regardless of a ceremony actually taking place.

Augusta had been surprised but apparently Hannah wanted that day for her wedding and Heather didn't want a ceremony at all. By doing this Hannah would manage to marry first by doing it in the middle of the day and Heather would be forced a consort bound by the agreement when the day ended regardless that she had no ceremony.

"Tilly." Augusta called and when the house elf arrived gave the paperwork to be packed in the official Longbottom files she was taking behind the lockdown wards.

"Well I have to leave." Amelia said packing the file she would use to give the others their copies of the contracts. Getting a nod from the dowager that then closed her eyes to rest, Bones left.

* * *

Finally the hag thought. She had been about to leave as there really wasn't enough time now. Ducking into the empty room she removed her clothes and drank the potion. She then put the young nurses uniform on that was stolen earlier from the nurse that had been flirting back to the guard's interest previously. Ensuring everything looked right she now waited thirty five minutes hoping no one found her and requested her to do the missing nurses work.

Finally, the wait that had gone on seemingly forever over, she left the room and turned the corner. She smiled to the guard as she approached.

"Michael I am glad they still have you on this detail. It makes my day." The hag said while walking toward him.

"Love, the only bright spot of having to protect that, in there is when you come by." Michael replied. What was her name again he tried to recall.

"I would rather spend the time with you than having to take care of her and give her the next medication doses." She approached and allowed his hand to grasp her waist pulling her against his young body. As his hand wandered onto her backside she blushed and looked at him. "If you do that I'll need you, and I need to do my rounds."

"I finish in a few minutes. We could go somewhere." Michael offered.

"I have rounds with the healer shortly. If I were to skip taking care of this patient I have time right now. There is an empty unoccupied patient room just around the corner."

"What, right now in the hospital? I am on…"

"Time to prove you're not all talk lover boy. I will give you everything right now if you think you can handle me. Otherwise I'll know not to bother with you."

"Show me to your boudoir and I'll prove I can walk the walk." Michael replied, allowing the cute nurse to show him where to go. When she opened the door for him he entered first.

The disguised hag left the room a few minutes later. She would be becoming herself shortly. She headed back to the patients unguarded room. It was cutting it really close. There wasn't much time 'till the next shift's guard arrived. Hopefully he wouldn't check the room right away.

Entering the room she smiled at least the patient was sleeping. She crossed to the bed knocked the witch's wand off the side table so her victim couldn't get any help. She then waited for the potion to wear off. It was slightly over two more nerve racking minutes, but then she dug her own hag nails into her victim's neck. Her head lowered above the dowagers face 'till a couple of inches above. She breathed in deeply the expelled breath, which enabled her to suck the life force from the patient.

The painful puncture of her neck woke Augusta up and she tried to reach for her wand as she felt her life being drained. Her hand frantically scrambled across the side table trying to gain purchase of her wand while her other hand tried to pry the nails from her neck. She was still recovering, and not having got her last dose of medication had set her back. She didn't have the strength needed to get the hag off of her.

The hag had everything planned. Once she had drained the victim and vanished the corpse she could wear the dowager's skin for several weeks. Enough time to get safely behind the lockdown wards and work out what she needed to kill everyone there except Neville and Heather. Once the two had a child, they would be unneeded. She and the hags she chose would raise the new Black heir, ensuring to keep the line alive. Wizarding society that had persecuted hags could not get them. They could live at the expense of a few drained wizards or witches. Their immortal lives protected for as long as the wards were active. Well as long as she wasn't interrupted. Nearly finished, just two to three more minutes and the dowager would be dead.

* * *

Translations / quotes

Cistem Aperio – Chest Open – used in movie by Tom Riddle to blast open the chest Aragog was in

Emancipare – I set free – used in movie Prisoner of Azkaban

Partis Temporus – to divide temporarily – used in movie by Dumbledore to part flames set on inferi in cave

Burgfriedenspolitik – Castle Peace Talks or more accurately 'party truce' – I know next to nothing about this other than it was around at the start of World War I and was linked to a Social Democratic Party of Germany and others – I just decided that with wizards liking quidditch and wizard chess the whole idea of peace talks 'forced' by a castle or rook chess piece was perfect for a wizard gang of 1911 that stirred up trouble leading up to the start of the war. Doing their crimes all in the name of peace. I do not mean to offend anyone and purely decided to name the magical gang this. It is complete fiction and I have no idea if the 'party truce' had anything even remotely to do with the instigating the war rather than just presenting a consolidated front against the other side.


	21. Chapter 21

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Intrusion

As this was the last day before the Grangers returned to their dental practice, it was decided to get the new lodgers in after lunch. The dowager would arrive when healthy enough to leave the hospital. It would be nice to set up a united front against the witch that was trying to destroy Heather's life. They had finished lunch when Kreacher brought Madam Bones across the wards and into the drawing room. This was where the five of them were gathered to receive.

"Madam Longbottom will likely never be coming here." Amelia told them cutting to the chase. "She was attacked earlier today, a little after I had left her, and is now beside her son and daughter-in-law in the long term spell damage ward of the hospital. The prognosis isn't good for her recovery."

Heather flipped through several emotions. Initially she was extremely happy, while frustrated she wouldn't get a chance to let the Madam Longbottom know what she thought of her. This was when she had heard she wasn't coming to live with them. Those changed to feeling guilty that she had been happy. Especially the additional happiness she couldn't control on first hearing the dowager had been attacked. Finally she felt sorry for Neville that would have another reason to recall what had been done to his parents. Three guardians attacked, and each now left in the Janus Thickey ward of St. Mungos.

"Thankfully we caught the attack in time. Also with my new requirement for forced Veritaserum questioning with due cause, we learned of a second plan of attack against you. We could have unknowingly brought a hag that planned to kill everyone here while she pretended to be Madam Longbottom. This was the reason the hag decided to kill Augusta." Amelia informed them.

"Well that wouldn't have worked." Heather said. "I have to provide the name of who I allow to cross the wards and I wouldn't have used the hag's name."

"Actually when they wear the skin of one they have killed, magic would think them the person they imitate. Thankfully hags can only imitate one person at a time. They must wait several weeks, to lose the ability to be the first person, before killing a second to get a new skin to wear. However, one of the reasons that the magic world discriminates against hags is because they kill other wizards and witches to live forever. Creatures that live within the border between the magical world and the fae, like hags and goblins have been throughout history our greatest threats, after ourselves."

"Is this the same with polyjuice potion?" Hermione inquired.

"Yes, otherwise Barty Crouch Junior, who you told me about before using it, wouldn't have escaped Azkaban's wards. The wards saw his mum and dad leave, and him still in the cell. It is also that way for animagus too. That is why we thought Sirius was about to die. When he was just changed into padfoot in the cell, the wards stated he wasn't there. When we initially checked, and always found him in the cell it was thought he was close to death.

"The guards were told to not check up on him when the ward went off. The reason was stated that we didn't need to help him stay alive. In fact the alarm was even turned off for his cell. That caused a huge nightmare when it was discovered on the daily inspection that he had escaped, let me tell you. Later on they thought he had escaped multiple times but returned to Azkaban because he wanted to help other prisoners escape too. Finally, giving up when whatever method he used wouldn't work for his friends for some reason."

"So our polyjuice and glamour option does solve the problem. Heather will never have to sleep with Neville!" Hermione screamed and the five were all high fiving and hugging each other in front of a completely confused Amelia.

"Can you run that by me Hermione? How does this mean Heather will not have to sleep with Neville? It is pretty iron clad in the contract that it will happen at least once in seven years." Madam Bones inquired.

At the end of the description she was astounded that no one had ever thought of this before. She also gained new respect for Moody's constant vigilance. The magic world should be all like Moody. They had so many ways to compromise identity, but it was rarely thought about. Also hundreds of people would now have an out to an unfair contract. It might actually stop contracts being written as they couldn't be known if they were enforceable any longer.

They couldn't let this information out yet. This could destroy the magical world more completely than any dark lord had succeeded in doing before. However, once they had solved their current dark lord problem the magic world was about to be rebuilt thanks to Hermione's different view on what you can do with magic. It was obvious why Croaker wanted the three of them so badly. They were obviously a unit. Thinking of Croaker made her recall his request.

"What do you know of Unspeakables?" Amelia asked.

As she had guessed, Luna knew the most having been raised in the magical world. Surprisingly Hermione knew a fair amount on the research branch of them. Heather only lit up once she heard the department. Which made sense, as it was in their department that they had fought the death eaters a couple of years ago.

"Well this is from the combat branch that Luna mentioned a bit about. What she didn't know is that the department of Mysteries is actually the second branch of the government. It is referred to as the Shadow Government."

'So they were the losing party in the last election?" Mr. Granger asked.

"What?" Amelia replied thrown for a loop.

"Well after the election the winning party has the Minister of Transportation, while the losing side decides on a Shadow Minister of Transportation. This person's job is to monitor what the current Minister is doing and inform his party. If they decide to, they also will inform the public with what is being done, in their opinion, wrong. This way hopefully if they can point out all the things the current government mishandled they can win the next general election." Mr. Granger informed an obviously confused War Marshall.

"Well the monitoring is definitely in their charter but they are excluded from holding a Ministerial Office. I am unsure if they allow information to get out to the public. They are actually very secretive. One of the people that are really high up within that department saved my bodyguards and my life a few days ago. I don't know if he is the Department Head. He acted when I met him yesterday as if he had missed me, because he arrived after I had left a meeting. The meeting was where the Minister and the Head of the Department of Mysteries had sworn me into the war Marshall's office. However, that could be his ploy to keep the known person and the unknown Department Head appear different individuals to me. Even if he isn't the head, I think he is probably someone who reports directly to the head.

"He is in the combat branch and the scariest person I have ever had a dual with. That is saying something as I have dueled your Professor Flitwick a dueling champion, trained with Moody, and Dumbledore. I have also in the first war, had the dubious honor of nearly losing to you-know-who before help arrived, and he left me close to dead. None of those four are as wild, unpredictable, and crazy-scary to duel, as Croaker is. Dumbledore and you-know who have known preferences, the first to transfiguration, and the second to dark curses.

"He probably isn't of the same power level as you-know-who and Dumbledore, but I am unsure on this, he could be. However, it his repertoire of spells that is insane. You never know what is coming next. If he had gone on the dueling circuit, he would have wiped Professor Flitwick off the floor not to knock the Professor's fantastic skills. He is just that much better in unusual unknown spells that mimic other spells, until you are actually hit with it. Where you find the shield you thought would work useless, because it wasn't the spell you thought it was. The other three areas he is better in are being random, speed in firing spells, and never seeming to run out of magical energy.

"Anyway he is interested in the three of you. Willing to train you in exchange for a chance to talk to you, and look at the active lockdown wards. I think he wants to recruit you to the Department of Mysteries. I need to warn you though that even if you only accept formal training, you will not be able to hold a political office in the Ministry. You can sit and vote your Wizengmot seats, but you can't have a position higher than a team lead in any of the departments of the Ministry of Magic.

"If Heather you were still interested in becoming an auror, your highest rank you could obtain would be Chief Special Operative. If you chose to work for me I couldn't promote you above Second Officer. Even if you had the skill, you would be excluded by magic from a higher commissioned officer's rank and the political and leadership aspects associated with those ranks.

"I thought a few years after I graduated from the Auror Academy that they were targeting me, but then they clammed up, and stopped the meetings that I had been having with Croaker. It was prior to them leaving that I had found how scary he was to dual. At the time I was interested in finding out more, but they just stopped meeting with me. When I viewed in a pensive his saving of my life the other day, I realized that he had been holding back in those crazy duels he used to give me. I have no idea what I did to fail their selection process. It's the only thing I've ever failed at.

"Well that exhausts the information I have on the Unspeakables. So talk amongst yourselves what you want to do about his offer. Is it okay if I go and get everyone here now?" Amelia wrapped up and asked.

"I'll come with you. Kreacher first safely check the area, and then take Amelia and myself where you last picked her up." Heather said.

A moment later both Amelia and herself were inside the Abbot's entry way. Several trunks, assorted cases, and boxes were stacked against the walls. There were three adults, and four children standing aside them. She knew three of the children, and assumed the fourth was Hannah's younger sister, Sarah.

"Hermione, I really am sorry about this. Do you think Heather will be okay with me?" Hannah immediately asked. Crossing to the Gryffindor she knew from Herbology, History of Magic, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes, and bringing her into a hug. "Are you mad with me too, Hermione? I really want to marry Neville and I will be totally open in trying to get along with Heather." She asked because the hug had been rather tentative from Hermione. Nothing like she was used to.

"I'm polyjuiced for security to look like Hermione, Hannah. I need to be here to get you all accepted to cross the wards." Heather said

Hannah immediately let go and stepped back uncomfortably. "I am sorry Heather I didn't know. I thought…"

"It's okay Hannah. I am sure we will be great friends, if you are friends with Hermione. Luna and Hermione are my most favorite people. If you will excuse me I will call a few house elves to get the belongings and get us all back to Grimmauld Place. Then we can have a cup of tea and talk."

"Miss Black you have permission to request a few house elves to do that." A lady, likely Hannah's mum informed her.

"Thank you Madam Abbott. Brillit, Marley, Hindy, and Jopel." Heather stated and then when the house elves arrived. "Neville, which are your things?"

"Mine are these Heather."

"Jopel, please take Master Longbottom's things to his room." Heather then turned back to Madam Abbott. "Is it okay to send all the things to your suite and then we work out later where everything goes for your daughters?"

"That will be perfect Miss Black. Those things there belong to Madam Bones, the rest is ours."

"Brillit Marley and Hindy, please take these items to the Abbot's Suite. Kreacher, please take those to Madam Bones's room. When the elves get back we will pop to the drawing room, and I will introduce you to Luna, Hermione, mum, and dad."

"Mum and dad, I thought with Sirius gone you were an orphan, Miss Black?" Madam Abbott asked surprised.

"I was an orphan. Hermione's parents have adopted me. They are mum and dad to me now."

"Isn't Harry Potter with you too, Heather?" Susan asked. She was thinking this was her chance to spend some time, and get to know the young wizard. He had broken up with Ginevra at Dumbledore's funeral, so was available.

"He is, but he wasn't there when I left. He is busy with something, and I've rarely seen him this summer." Heather truthfully answered.

Susan's hopes were dashed. Well if she was in the same house she was bound to run into him sooner or later, she looked for the optimistic chance she still had. Who would be her main competition? This summer was her chance. Granger was supposed to be in a relationship with Ron. Suppressing a shudder at the Gryffindor dustbin, well it removed her hardest rival for Harry's affection at least. Sarah at ten was too young to worry about, and Luna well who knew what was going on in that head. It was unfair she had to watch her mother die.

Perhaps she was lucky in never having known her parents. Having been raised by her Aunt, she of course was told that her parents were heroes killed in the first war against you-know-who, but the emotional attachment wasn't there too. For sure every time it came out that her parents had died, she would be showered with pity and a learned response that she had been denied something precious, was born. It was not as debilitating as the pain Luna had been forced to suffer. To know you were there, and did nothing to help. Unable to save you own mum, because you were too young and unknowing.

The self loathing, guilt and destruction of your own self worth, as you constantly blame yourself for killing your own mother. No matter that everyone and common sense tells you it was not your fault. A child can't help but think it is. A bit smarter or faster to respond correctly and your mother can survive. If there was something between Harry and Luna already, could she willing force herself to break it for her own happiness at the expense of Luna's? It had only been a few days. There couldn't be anything yet for her to break up she assured herself.

At that point the house elves started returning and Heather touched each elf to give it the magic it needed for their next task. She set four of them up with a pair of travelers to each. Leaving Kreacher to bring herself back after everyone else had popped across the wards. Each group arrived in the drawing room of Grimmauld Place, where upon the five elves left.

After everyone had been introduced and sitting with tea served, there was silence as everyone was unsure what to say. Susan put down her half finished cup. Got up and crossed to the Black tapestry, with the eyes of everyone following her, as the only moving person in a room of rather uncomfortable individuals.

"Well I think it makes sense to start on room and floor breakdown." Heather began, hoping to remove the uncomfortable feeling. "Harry Potter has room, bathroom and his war office in the attic that is restricted. He has a secret passage keyed to him straight to the kitchen, so he doesn't have to worry about four flights of stairs and as he doesn't have access to the fourth floor, which will be the girls' floor. No boys have access to it.

"The third floor has an empty small suite still. It has Neville's room along with two other much smaller empty rooms. There are also on the third floor a bathroom to serve those three rooms, and then three taken suites. Those suites are being used by my parents, grandparents and one for the Abbotts. I am unsure if you want Sarah in that suite with you or on the fourth floor with Susan and Hannah. I also don't know if you wanted a room or suite here too Madam Bones."

"I was planning on just putting some stuff in Susan's room but if you plan to have her share with Hannah and Sarah then I would like a small room if you could spare it. I don't expect to be here too often." Madam Bones stated.

"I was hoping Heather that you would share with Sarah, while Hannah and Susan share. You are closer to her age. Are you twelve or nine?" Madam Abbott asked.

"She's twelve, I see her on the tapestry. Her birthday is October the thirty-first too. You must be so angry being forced to marry on your birthday. Oh and Harry James Potter is on the tapestry too. You're related to the boy-who-lived, Heather, so cool!" Susan interrupted before Heather could reply. Each of Susan's comments causing its own emotional baggage that Susan was oblivious to.

"So Heather would you share with my daughter Sarah?" Madam Abbott queried once more.


	22. Chapter 22

Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Becoming an Old Maid

"Okay stop! I am so bloody angry with your pathetic magic world! Between your last comment, and Susan's stupidity that makes her think I would be angry about having to get married on my birthday. How the whole lot of you miss and blithely ignore the important things its, well... It just reinforces how moronic all of you are!

"Because I served you tea doesn't mean I am happy in having to open my house to total strangers, and invite you to walk all over me! Mum, dad can you show them their rooms? Sarah if you want to be with your parents stay, otherwise you're sharing with Susan and Hannah. So two or three of you follow and both or all three of you will be keyed to the fourth floor. Luna, Hermione are you coming?" Heather practically ran from the room and was already half the way to the third floor before Hermione started to leave the drawing room.

They didn't catch up to her until she'd had been waiting beside their new room for a couple of minutes. The five of them arrived on the fourth floor slightly out of breath. She stood impatiently scowling, with folded arms, to the side of an open door. "Ah good, so it is the three of you, and I won't have to get the third bed moved again. Anyway, this is your room. Except the Master Suite, it is the largest room on this floor. Thus you should have plenty of space. Follow me, the bathroom is over here." Heather continued further down the hall and opened a second door.

"The other two doors are a sun room and sitting room. With these two rooms we can study or play up here, and ignore everyone else in the house. You will find that you don't have access to the wing on the other side of the stairs, and also no access to the flight of stairs going up to the attic. The other wing of this floor is ours. The three of us will share the bathroom in the Master suite, and you three can share this bathroom. That is the fairest that I can be."

Heather looked up and noticed that the three new arrivals were looking as uncomfortable as she felt. Even Luna seemed a bit put out, which told her she was doing something wrong. Luna almost never looked put out, and Hermione had the face she wore before she was about to lecture her for something she did incorrectly. Obviously she wasn't going to be able to escape to their room as planned. Hoping to at least keep the telling off on this floor, she asked. "Sitting room?"

"Why, yes Heather, what a great idea to ask your guests to politely sit in the fourth floor's sitting room. So they are comfortable, while informing them of where they will be sleeping. It is so nice to do it so, rather than tearing off, leaving them to blindly follow. It is good mannered to make the guests feel welcomed by keying them politely into your wards, verses yelling follow if you want to, and charging upstairs forcing your friends to key them instead." Hermione informed her and let her know she had possibly over-reacted downstairs a bit.

"If you would be so kind to follow me, the sitting room is this way." Heather laid it on thick while showing the way. The room had a small sofa, that fit three barely a love seat and two chairs. So after a quick mental calculation she grabbed Luna and Hermione with a hand each and squashed them into the sofa with her. Luna giggled, Hermione rolled her eyes and Susan's eyebrows rose beneath the fringe of her red hued brownish hair.

Susan looked to Hannah and Sarah and saw that Hannah was wondering the same thing she was. "Share the love seat, Hannah, Sarah?" she asked.

"No!" Hannah scandalously replied having picked up the implied innuendo from Susan, after the scene already set by how the other three had sat. She hastily sat in a chair causing her sister to do the same.

Susan congratulated herself in reading the situation and getting the love seat to herself. "So you three are an item?" She asked while flopping her legs up over one arm, and sweeping her own arm so she pointed from Luna through Hermione.

"What!" Sarah shrieked, initially surprised by Susan's query.

"No. You're not! You don't," Hannah was suddenly scared that they as three, planned to muscle in on Neville. How could she compete with three girls?

"Don't worry Hannah, Susan is playing with you. It was the choice of seats that made them chose to sit that way. Heather is only twelve. Tell them you're not together." Sarah requested.

* * *

Hemera closed the file and re-filed it after adding her latest findings. The meowing and occasional yowl from the cats and kneazles were a steady background noise filtering in from the wired opening between the two rooms. One of the felines chose to exit through their flap from the cat room into the run they had in the yard. Separate from the chimps' area of the 'yard'. Like hundreds of miles, separate. "Come on Roberta it's been four hours and Rob hasn't shown himself, Robertapus has left the building though, four hours ago. It's time for me to return you to your, soon to be confused, parents. They will enjoy having a daughter I'm sure." So saying Hemera held her hand out to the chimp.

Once the chimp had grabbed it she walked beside the chimp to the door that led to the yard, verses her office door that led back into the bowels of the department of mysteries. Opening the door she marveled at the ability to open a door located possibly below London and step onto a completely different continent as you stepped through the door.

She thought she would soon love where she worked. Growing up as a young child she had always wanted to be a vet, having read several of the James Herriot book's when nine and ten and she was bitten. Then of course her Hogwarts letter had arrived and magic eclipsed her childish dream. The hat had debated between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and she had been initially miffed when it made her a 'puff. Was she not smart enough? Was it due to not being from the magical world that she was thought intellectually lacking? If only they had told her about magic earlier, she knew she could have learned enough to be eligible to enter the house of the intelligent and wise.

However, later she came to love being a 'puff. There were more muggleborns there, and the way the house stood against the junior death eaters. Their house provided solidarity and mentoring. The older years and the magically raised explained what to be careful to not run a fowl of, and how the magic world really worked. Even though 'the boy who lived' saved them in the beginning of her fifth year, so she thankfully was not out of Hogwarts during the war, the muggleborns she knew in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had all died except one. Only four muggleborn 'puffs that she knew had died, all at least a year older than her. It was as if the enemy didn't take them as a serious threat. Sure they could end up collateral damage but it was rare for a 'puff to be directly targeted.

Upon completing her education she began to find the corruption within the magical world. Fed up with being a glorified secretary for an older wizard that thought her job duties included ones unwritten in the employment contract. She fled back into the muggle world where she could get a better position even though appearing uneducated. She studied at night school and took eight GSCE's and then four A' levels and then started an Open University course that enabled her entry into a small University to become a veterinarian. Her initial dream having been delayed nearly five years thanks to wasting time at Hogwarts, she thought she had washed her hands of life in the magical world.

It was with trepidation that she accepted this job yesterday. It paid off all her student debt and had offered a huge salary, four times the next best offer in the real world. It provided her paperwork that made her appear a half-blood. She was not coming back into this world a muggleborn with the war restarting, and this way if she chose to have children they wouldn't go through what she had gone through. The only things she had to give up were any job that was classified medium high or higher in the ministry and her name.

Working for the ministry? Like hell she would ever want to work for them. The name if she could remember it, she knew she would miss. She missed that she had a name that she now couldn't even remember. She was concerned that she might have had a muggle family, parents that would have no clue where she was. Surely she only chose this option because there was no one in the muggle world she was close to. So that condition was not a problem, right.

She had no recollection of anyone in the muggle world. If there had been someone, wouldn't she have run to them? Not just found a muggle job and studied in the evenings. It was the loss of her original name that Hemera Croaker worried about. She willingly chose to do this right? She willingly accepted being declared the get of Saul Croaker and a muggle, Jane Smith, who died unmarried in child birth?

* * *

"Fine, we are not together." Heather replied. It was kind of ruined when Luna leaned in and kissed her. "Luna, you left Hermione out." Heather said when her lips were released from the kiss, because she wanted to deflect the attention off her.

"Oh bother!" was Luna's reply then she swung a leg over the other four legs so her knees were on the sofa and arm of sofa with her feet and back facing the new girls. While sitting obliquely across her girlfriends' laps she proceeded to kiss Hermione. It created an image of near nice symmetry of smaller blond hugging identical brunets one to each of her sides. The symmetry was slightly broken as they were skewed to the one side of the sofa and she was currently kissing one of the two twins. She then sprouted a tail.

"Luna!" Heather yelled as Hermione's mouth was otherwise occupied and unable to voice an opinion.

Luna looked toward Heather. "What I thought we were doing the big reveal." She innocently replied. "You two are going to show them your tails too, aren't you?"

"Heather, what does this mean with Neville?" Hannah asked stumbling on the words in a couple of places.

"Neville is all yours Hannah. Didn't you two tell her?"

"We were kind of busy chasing after you when you threw the whole plan out the window and went off in a huff." Hermione informed her.

"So Neville doesn't know?"

"Really Heather, how did you expect him to find out?" Hermione asked. "By the way you didn't kiss me."

"I didn't kiss Luna either?"

"I have to disagree with you Heather, you may not have started, but you definitely kissed Luna." Susan told her. "So I got from earlier that you are mad with their mum and me. What exactly did I say wrong?"

"You haven't worked it out? You think I will get angry that I have to get married on my birthday, ignoring the bigger reason of being forced to get married as if it isn't something to fuss over. Being forced to get married is so much more annoying than being forced to marry on ones birthday, that it is bloody stupid to even ask if marrying on the birthday is troubling you.

"See, even Susan agrees you need to kiss me, Heather." Hermione stated. Rescuing Susan whose mouth was slowly opening and closing trying to grasp what Heather had just thrown at her.

"I didn' …" Susan began then gave up as the last pair of the triple proceeded to wrestle tongues in front of her. Throwing her hands up in the air, she looked to Hannah. "So what do you think of the sitting room?" Sarah was just starring open mouthed at the making out witches, so it was pointless to try to converse with her.

"Um, sorry, what, err it's a bit crowded."

"Yeah let's go look at the sun room. See if we should leave them this room to 'study in' and claim the other, ours." Susan said getting up.

"I'm not doing that Susan!" Hannah blurted out. Face bright red and hand pointing to the three girls that were doing 'that'.

"I didn't say we were?" Susan replied unsure where Hannah's response came from.

"Well them, and you offering to share the love seat."

"I was actually only doing that to get the love seat for myself. I didn't even really think there was a 'them' at that point in time." Susan told her best friend using air quotes on 'them'. "Heather is only twelve. I wasn't doing 'that' at twelve."

"I am not even doing 'that' now, and I'm seventeen, and I have a fiancée, and I'm getting married in three months!" Hannah exclaimed. "Also, Heather is going to be my sister wife. I think I should stop them."

"Wait! Heather has to tell Hannah, why Neville is only hers." Luna said. "And don't say it is for us to tell her. As Hermione stated, you threw that plan out the window. You'll notice no mum and dad are here to enable you to get your way. I count two votes saying you have to, against your one. So you lose, Heather."

"Fine my sometimes wonderful girlfriends have found a way to ensure the contract doesn't force me to be with your fiancé. It involves you taking polyjuice to be me, and then placing a glamour to make you appear yourself. My hair will need to be plucked from me when I am most fertile. You will then provide to Neville the baby that the dowager tried to get from me."

"You are fine with that?" Hannah asked, trying to work out what Heather had said, and so her response was biased by knowing she wouldn't want to not have Neville, and the stated method seemed to prevent Heather the joy of having it with him.

"I have two girlfriends and don't think I will ever be interested in a wizard. Not that I have anything against Neville. I just have no interest in him that way." Heather informed Hannah.

"Hermione you're with Ron." Susan said suddenly realizing that she had forgotten that in the surprise.

"Why does Luna have a tail?" Sarah asked. She couldn't understand why neither Hannah nor Susan had commented on it. Did witches grow tails when they started kissing other witches she was wondering? The tail seemed far more important than the other things being discussed.

"They have them too. Come on girls show your tails and furry ears." Luna stated while standing and pulling her girlfriends up to. Her statement made Sarah believe that turning half cat was what happened when witches kissed each other. She especially thought so when the other two did truly turn part cat. One benefit she thought was that this way she would be able to keep track of who Heather was, as the identical twins were furred a different colour. The three cat girls fell back onto the sofa when Luna forced her two lovers to fall back onto the sofa, by pushing them backwards so their legs buckled on the edge of the sofa. She continued falling on top of them.

"Ah you're in here. Luna please get off my daughters. That behavior is not appropriate around others. Have you explained about the polyjuice solution for the contract?" Mrs. Granger asked upon entering the room. Upon getting a nod and no queries she continued. "Well Susan's aunt filled in Neville, and the adults. I hadn't informed about the part kneazle, but you obviously have shown the girls both that, and that the three of you are in a relationship so I don't need to worry about letting something slip.

"Are the six of you coming downstairs?"

"We have a few more things we want to talk about mum." Hermione stated.

"Fine just remember that Neville is down there on his own." Having said her piece she left.

Heather looked over to the exit and tried to work out where they were in the general conversation. "Right so um…

"Harry!" Susan interrupted her. "Look Hannah has Neville, and you three have each other. I am not being a third or I guess fourth wheel in this house. I want to see Harry. The reason he is probably not here is you three have scared him off. I want to see Harry."

"Perhaps Harry doesn't want to see you, Susan." Heather said and Luna cruelly laughed, while Hermione choked. "This is not some dating house where the residents date each other, and the last two become a couple just because they're the last two standing."

"I don't mean I'm expecting a relationship to occur just because. I want someone to hang out with that is not in a relationship. You know friendship." Susan replied, while thinking how great it would be if the friendship evolved into something more.

"Hey I'm here to." Sarah said feeling she had been ignored long enough. "So if I kiss Susan we can both grow cat tails and ears?" She felt that she could possibly kiss a witch if she got to turn part cat from the process. It was Susan too. She'd known her all her life. She was sort of a second big sister. There was no way she was going to end up the old maid. If pairing was happening, she wasn't going to be last. As the youngest she was fed up of always being last. Hey maybe if she was with Susan the two of them together could capture the boy who lived.


End file.
